Shining Like the Stars
by scriveyner
Summary: Lance was staring at Keith, unabashedly, eyebrows high in his hairline. He would usually turn red by now, or look away, because Keith's naked and that's awkward, but he's clearly concerned and that only makes Keith feel worse. [Omegaverse, A/B/O, Polydins] [Currently updating to complete, 3/2018]
1. Chapter 1

[ This fic has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen and for content. Viewer discretion is advised. ]

Keith stood under the hot spray of the shower head, his eyes closed as he focused inward and trying desperately to regain some sense of composure. He wasn't really sure what was wrong with him today; he was the only one out of the entire team moving out of sync in their training exercises, he'd snapped off at Pidge and run himself into one of the invisible maze's walls so hard that he was _still_ slightly dizzy from it and even now felt like the static jolt still buzzed under his skin. When Shiro had touched his shoulder, eyes concerned, his touch was like a fresh electric current and Keith had yanked himself away.

He realized how quickly he was breathing and turned around under the spray, trying to bring his heart rate under control and even out his panting breaths. He had turned the water on full blast, hot enough to scald but now he was beginning to feel like that was a bad idea, like the blood in his veins was just as hot as the water and if he let it keep going he would burn up, combust right here and now.

The shower stalls themselves were on the small side, and gave the illusion of privacy when the dividers between the boxes only came up to chest height. Keith gripped the top of one of the dividers to maintain his balance, he felt like a fever had come up on him out of nowhere and it _hurt_ , it throbbed in his temples and in his chest and lower, too. He should turn off the water but he was suddenly too dizzy to move again, and all his thoughts ran back to earlier, and Shiro's hand on his shoulder electric jolt and all, and how comforting that was….

"Keith…? You okay, buddy?"

It too a monumental amount of effort to lift his head and look to the corridor that ran between the two rows of shower stalls. Lance was standing there in his ridiculous, fuzzy blue Altean-cut bathrobe, a towel slung over one shoulder and carrying a little caddy with bottles in it. He was staring unabashedly at Keith, eyebrows high in his hairline. Usually he would have turned red by now, or looked away or something because Keith was clearly naked and that was awkward, but the look he was giving Keith was clearly concerned instead, and that only made him feel worse. If _Lance_ was concerned about him….

"I'm fine," Keith croaked, because he wanted Lance to go _away_ , he didn't want to be seen like this. But then his body decided to up and betray him, his legs giving out and Keith slid down the divider to sit on the tile floor, the water from the shower head sluicing down his body. Keith groaned at the weakness in his own limbs, the water too hot, his skin even hotter. Keith closed his eyes and pressed his cheek into the wet, alien-feeling material of the divider, relishing in its cooler temperature despite the heat of the water, and after a moment realized the sensation of water hitting his skin had abated.

When he opened his eyes it was to see Lance in the stall with him, still wearing his robe but now drenched, the shower head dripping slightly but the water shut off. He was staring at Keith, eyes wide and now _obviously_ alarmed. "Do you want me to get Shiro?" Lance asked, and Keith watched the water drip from his soaked robe. He reached out and caught the hem of it, felt the water run down his hand, still warm. Yes, getting Shiro would be nice … he wanted to see Shiro, although he wasn't quite sure _why_ , and he really didn't want Shiro to see him like _this._

Whatever _this_ was.

Lance crouched and put his hand on Keith's shoulder, clearly about to try to help him to his feet but he hesitated, his hand lingering on Keith's skin. "Holy _shit_ , you're burning up."

' _I'm fine_ ' wasn't even remotely accurate, but Keith said it anyway. Or at least, he tried to.

Lance didn't remove his hand from Keith's shoulder, and Keith's annoyance at the fact that Lance was touching him was beginning to mount. He leaned in closer to Keith, wide-eyed, and asked in a hush whisper, "are you in _heat?_ "

Keith scoffed. "Betas don't go into heat," he said, and then felt his face flush even redder at admitting his status to Lance. He turned his face away and closed his eyes. "I'm fine, I'll be fine," he croaked, even if he didn't _feel_ fine.

Lance bit his bottom lip. "It's your first heat," he said, suddenly understanding and equally surprised. "You hadn't presented."

"Why are you such an expert on heats, anyway?" Keith pushed at Lance weakly. "You don't smell like an alpha to me." He didn't. He _did_ smell, though, in a way that Keith hadn't noticed before now but … god, _this_ was weird.

And he realized with a hard beat of his heart that Lance was _right_. He was in heat, _that's_ what this was and the reason that he still felt so wet despite the shower head being turned off was because he was _leaking._ Keith let out a low, aggravated noise but instead it slid off into one higher and needier than he intended. He was really too separated from the moment to be ashamed, but he was certain that his brain would remind him in vivid detail later.

Lance let out a noise almost equally frustrated. "You'll feel better if you take care of it," he said. "I mean, it won't be over right _away_ , but it would help."

"What do _you_ know-" Keith snarled through gritted teeth.

Lance's answer overrode the tail end of Keith's question, although he turned a very vivid shade of red. "I'm an omega too," Lance's voice was hushed. "I've been through this, it's rough but you'll make it through."

"Oh _hell_ ," Keith said. He didn't want to be hearing this. He didn't want to be _living_ through this, he had been confident that he was a beta; it didn't carry the same prestige as an alpha but at least it wasn't an omega. "I'm not…" he trailed off, because he knew, he _knew_ and he hated that he knew it but Lance was telling the truth and for some unknown reason _now_ he was presenting as an omega. "God _dammit_ ," he hissed, and slapped the wet tile with his hand, weakly.

Lance had never moved his hand from Keith's shoulder, comforting, soft … but not what he _wanted_. Keith hung his head forward, hair soaked and dripping warm water down his fevered skin as he tried again to bring his panting breaths under control. Why did it have to be _Lance_ here, now? He didn't want anyone to see him like this, least of all _Lance._

"Do you want me to go get Shiro?" Lance asked again, not having moved. Keith's muscles seized up at the thought of Shiro here, his hand warm on Keith's skin, his arm sliding over Keith's shoulders as he pulled him in close and if Keith wasn't already flushed red from the heat he would have gone dizzy with all the blood rushing to his face. He stared at the tile, breathing hard, and didn't raise his face to Lance's even though the want would be clearly spelled out there. "Shiro is an alpha," Lance was saying, certain with the knowledge and Keith's head jerked up and he stared at Lance in surprise. "That can … make things easier." Lance was as red as Keith felt, but he wasn't looking away.

"Shiro's a…" how had he not _known_ this? They were so close, he knew so _much;_ but there was a lot that Shiro didn't know about him as well so maybe that figured into things. It had always been an assumption, Shiro had never actually _presented_ as long as Keith had known him but alphas were natural leaders and promoted quickly in the Garrison. Keith wrenched himself out from under Lance's hand, breath burning in his lungs, shaking. So, if Lance was an omega, too, had he… had _they…?_ No, no … he would have known, Lance was the polar opposite of subtle and something would have slipped out by now. "Have you…" Keith choked the words out anyway, he _had_ to know, to be certain. "You and Shiro…?"

"What? No! I'm on suppressants anyway," Lance said. "I mean, I don't have a lot left, I wasn't exactly planning to be away for this long. I can probably spare a couple but they won't be as effective for you, and you're not supposed to use them on your first heat anyway." He was watching Keith critically, and Keith let his head loll against the divider. He felt sick, panicked, everything _hurt_ and he didn't know what to do about it. Lance sat back on the wet tile in front of him and watched him carefully. Keith couldn't stand the attention, so he closed his eyes.

He could feel the hesitation in the air. When he opened his eyes Lance was no longer looking at him, instead his gaze had directed toward the shower wall, arms folded and face flushed pink. "It makes things better if you deal with it," Lance said, and moved a little like he was going to get up. "I'll stand guard in the changing room if you want, I mean, I wouldn't want _Pidge_ walking in on this or something…"

For all the way his limbs currently felt like lead weights, Keith's hand moved quickly and caught Lance's robe. The movement surprised even Keith, as his emotions had gone sideways on him. "I don't want to be alone," Keith said, his heart pounding quickly, everything too muddled except for that single point of clarity. He'd been alone too much. "Please…"

"Are you - are you _kidding_ ," Lance said too quickly. "I'm not going to, this is something that…" he took a great gulping breath, staring at Keith as he did so, his own breathing coming too fast now too. Keith stared right back, hazy, hard, hurting - and Lance looked away sharply. "You're going to owe me," he muttered, addressing the tile. "Big time. Bigger than big time."

"Lance," Keith said, his eyes closed. "Shut up."


	2. Chapter 2

Lance stood in front of the door to Keith's room, holding a tray with a covered dish of leftovers. Hunk had put it together specifically for Keith, so Lance knew at the very bare minimum it was edible if not actually incredibly tasty; and it didn't smell as bad as what Coran had attempted to feed them for dinner. A month into this madness and Lance still wasn't quite used to the cuisine.

The list of things he was willing to barter away for a decent cheeseburger was growing worryingly longer by the day.

Keith hadn't shown his face for dinner. Lance figured that he wouldn't show, but the others were worried and it was left all up to him to come up with the most devious and convincing lie to throw them off scent. He might not _like_ Keith all that much, but now they had an important bond; more so than being teammates - they were both _omegas._ Lance had a responsibility to show newly-presented Keith the ropes. Yes, a responsibility. He liked that. Preening a little, Lance balanced the tray and banged on the bulkhead door a second time. "Keith, open up."

"No."

This time a response, at least. "I brought you food, you ungrateful dick."

A long silence followed, and then the tone chimed that indicated the door's lock had been disengaged. Lance rolled his eyes as the door parted, and he stepped through into Keith's room.

He had been in here a few times before, but most notably just earlier in the day, Keith's arm slung over his shoulders and Lance grateful to whatever he was supposed to be grateful to for the fact that not a single person intercepted them between the showers and Keith's room. Keith had been barely there, relaxed and supple, and Lance had tucked him into bed before returning to the showers to take care of himself under the spray of water while very determinedly not thinking about what had just transpired.

Currently, Keith was seated on the bed, the covers puddled about his waist. He was at least partially dressed in one of his black tee shirts and even his stupid gloves, but the shirt was sticking to him a little too much to be comfortable. Lance stood just inside the door for a moment, uncertain where to set down the tray of food and finally deciding that on the bed beside Keith would be best. Keith folded his arms and stared doggedly at the far end of his bunk and didn't look at Lance.

"I'm not ungrateful," he said and then, finally, looked at Lance. His face was bright pink.

"Yeah, yeah," Lance said. "You're embarrassed, I don't need a road map." God, he could smell Keith's arousal hanging heavy in the air, and he was an _omega_. No wonder he was so pink, it was a miracle Shiro wasn't at his door already. "I covered for you at dinner, so now you owe me two." He held up two fingers illustratively.

Lance took a step back away from the bed now that he had made good on his promise to Hunk and delivered the food. With how he was flushed and the shirt sticking to him with sweat, Lance knew he was back in the throes of his heat and he did _not_ want to stick around. He had a history of being badly affected by other omega's heat cycles, and the last thing he wanted was an early heat. Being regular was _nice_ , Keith better not ruin it for him.

"Thanks," Keith said softly, and looked away. "I owe you a lot."

"What I wouldn't give for a recording of _that_ ," Lance said, and waved his hand in the air dismissively. "We're supposed to be a team, right? We've gotta look out for each other." He put his hands on his hips and surveyed Keith, and then grinned sharply. "I can still go get Shiro, if you want," he offered slyly.

Keith flushed bright red, faster than Lance thought possible. "Do _not_ tell him," he hissed, and Lance shrugged.

"He'll figure it out eventually, if he hasn't already. Then you two can," Lance waved his hands in the air illustratively and punctuated the gesture with a lewd grunt and a hip thrust.

"Lance!"

"What, are you telling me you _don't_ want to bone Shiro?" Lance put his hands back on his hips and raised his eyebrow. "Or be _boned_ by, in this case."

Keith buried his face in his hands. "I am _not_ talking about this with _you._ "

Lance shrugged. "Your loss. I'm offering to be your wingman, bro."

"I don't need _your_ help!"

Okay, _that_ stung more than Lance wanted to admit. Could Keith's tone get any more condescending? "It sure as hell seemed like it in the showers earlier," Lance snarled, his tone going from playful to pissed. Keith slammed both of his hands flat on the mattress and then flung the sheets up, like he was going to get out of bed and come over there and teach Lance a lesson himself - except for the fact that Keith very clearly forgot that he was quite naked from the waist down. Whatever Lance was going to continue on with as an insult died on his lips and he immediately relocated his gaze to the corner of the room.

Keith quickly yanked the sheets over himself again, covering up as he looked away, flushed with anger and embarrassment and more besides. "You didn't _have_ to," Keith said finally, stubbornly, but there was a soft edge to his tone that was new.

"No," Lance said. "I didn't." He took a deep breath because he didn't like this feeling that had settled over him, worse than it had in the showers; and fuck if Keith didn't smell a little bit _good_ right now with his arousal so thick in the air. "I should go," Lance said finally. "I won't tell anyone what's going on, though, that's up to you if you wanna tell them or not."

"I don't want to be in your debt," Keith curled his hands in the sheets.

Lance thought about that for a moment. "Well," he said, hitting upon an idea he liked. He grinned and struck a pose, thumb and forefinger framing his chin. "You can tell everyone how cool and awesome I am and how much you look up to me!" When he opened his eyes, Keith was wearing a look of deep disgust.

"I'm not doing _that_."

He shrugged. "Guess you're just gonna have to owe me, then."

Keith inhaled, and closed his eyes. Then he moved again, swinging his legs out over the side of the bed and standing up fast enough to rattle the tray of food that Lance had left on the bed. "Dude," Lance yelped as Keith stomped over to him. "You're not wearing any _pants_!"

He was a bit shorter than Lance but just as broad, and there was something definitely intimidating about being advanced on by someone who clearly gave no fucks about being half-naked. Lance backed up until his shoulders hit the wall behind him. "You stink of pheromones," Lance said, nervous at being this close to Keith again. "Do you even know that?"

"Lance," Keith said, and slid his fingers into the waistband of Lance's pants. "Shut up."

"What the _fuck-_ " Lance yelped again, higher this time, and grabbed Keith's hand by the wrist but not before he'd managed to tug open the front of Lance's pants. "What are you doing!?"

"You know exactly what I'm doing," Keith said as he pulled Lance's pants down off his hips. He met Lance's eye, bright red and brow furrowed in determination, before sinking slowly to his knees.

And, okay, yeah, Lance knew _exactly_ what Keith was doing, he didn't need to be called out like that, but still. _Still._ Keith was going to do _that_ \- and Lance was going to _let him_ \- and really Lance's brain wasn't even beginning to process everything because _holy shit, Keith_.

Then, without any warning, the bulkhead door to Keith's room opened. Lance hadn't thought to lock it behind him, and clearly neither had Keith - and they both turned surprised and panicked expressions toward the door, where Hunk stood bearing a covered tray. "Sorry to bug you but Lance said you weren't feeling well and I made some…" Hunk's voice trailed off as he registered the two of them, and their compromising positions. "...dessert…"

It seemed like an eternity of silence as they all just stared at each other. Then, without a word or a twitch of expression Hunk turned on his heel and walked out of the room, letting the door hiss closed behind him.

Another long moment of horrified silence passed.

Lance slammed his head back against the wall as Keith tilted forward on his knees, one hand flat on the floor and the other wiping at his face. "Fuck," Keith hissed, his face turned down so that Lance couldn't see his expression. "Fuck, fuck, _fuck._ "

At the moment, Lance couldn't agree more.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hunk!" Lance called as he hurried down the corridor behind his best friend and the pilot of the Yellow Lion. "Hunk, c'mon man, wait up!"

Hunk was walking determinedly forward, completely ignoring Lance and heading back toward the Castleship's kitchens. He was staring straight ahead and almost didn't stop when Lance darted in front of him, both hands out and braced a little in case Hunk didn't stop. "Hunk, _stop_! Let me explain!"

He did stop, hands still gripping the dessert tray and staring at Lance. "Explain what?"

Lance, who had closed his eyes and braced for impact, opened them but didn't drop his hands. "It's … not what you think?"

"Not what I think," Hunk's voice was very calm and it was scary. Lance couldn't think of the last time he'd heard Hunk's voice this calm - usually it was the opposite, pitched up frantically. "What is it that I think, Lance?" Hunk looked around suddenly, as if checking to see that they could be overheard before leaning in toward Lance, his eyes narrowed. "Is it that you're taking advantage of an omega in heat?"

Lance slapped his hand over Hunk's mouth and said loudly, "SHH I'M NOT TAKING ADVANTAGE OF ANYBODY IF ANYTHING _HE'S_ TAKING ADVANTAGE OF _ME-_! " Hunk recoiled almost instantly away from Lance and shook his head, balancing the tray expertly in one hand and wiping the back of his other hand over his mouth.

"I don't even _want_ to know where your hands have been!"

"I'm not taking advantage of him!" Lance said again, insistently but not as loud. "How could you think I would _do_ something like that!?" He had backed up a step away and was aware of how fast his heart was beating, and how strangely terrified he was of Hunk and his knowledge.

Hunk inhaled and held it for a moment, before letting out a long, slow sigh. "I know you're not a bad person," he said, and then thought a second before clarifying himself. "Well, not _that_ kind of bad person…"

 _"Hey!"_

"But, you know, it's _kind of hard_ not to be suspicious when I see a guy that you've been complaining about _constantly_ and declared your rival on his knees in front of you with a face full of…" Hunk screwed his nose up and closed his eyes as if he was trying to dump his short-term memory files. "Well, _you_."

"It wasn't my idea," Lance huffed, folding his arms. He looked away, unaware of still how flushed he was, stomach roiling. "How did you that he's … well…" Lance looked around again but it wasn't like the Castleship was wall to wall with passengers. "You know."

"An omega?"

"Dude, don't _say_ it."

Hunk shrugged his shoulders loosely. "The only way that you're getting a blowjob is from someone in heat who doesn't know any better." That said, he stepped around Lance and kept on walking toward the kitchen, leaving Lance standing there with a stunned expression on his face.

"What? _Hunk!_ " 

* * *

"You have to swear not to tell anyone," Lance said, two steps behind Hunk as he walked into the kitchen. "Swear it, man!"

"Not tell anyone what?" Allura asked, standing at the counter against the wall and holding a mug in both hands full of a steaming purple liquid. Lance pulled up short and gaped at her for a moment, his brain shooting off the rails at lightning speed and groping for something, _anything_ to tell her that wasn't The Truth.

"Keith and Lance were working on team-building exercises," Hunk said as he set the dessert tray down.

"Oh!" Allura beamed. "Lance, that's _wonderful_ , will you be sharing those exercises with the rest of us? I know how tumultuous your relationship with Keith can be, I'm glad to hear that you've put aside your differences to work together on something."

Lance not only continued to gape wordlessly for a long, painful moment; he also turned one single, vibrant shade of pink from his forehead to his chin. "They're, um," he said, struggling valiantly and failing miserably all in one go. "They're…"

"...not ready yet?" Hunk helped, a wicked gleam in his eye.

"Not ready yet," Lance repeated, far too quickly. He glared at Hunk, who gave Lance an over-sweet smile and started putting away the tray.

"How _is_ Keith feeling?" Shiro asked from behind Lance, and Lance went absolutely stock-still. For a split second everything was silent and muted, except for the overwhelming, confident presence of Shiro behind him in the doorway. Then, Lance moved faster than he thought possible; getting out of the way and putting Hunk between him and the door as nonchalantly as he could for someone who appeared to have teleported across the room.

"He's fine," Lance said, almost tripping over the words and not making any eye contact with Shiro at all. "Or he will be fine, he's just exhausted and wore himself out you know how he is, hahaha…" The nervous chuckle at the end made Hunk look at him and snort.

"I still think he ought to spend the night in the cryo replenisher," Allura said, and the mouse who was sitting perched on her shoulder nodded its head in firm agreement. "He would feel much better in the morning, especially if he's been ill and pushing himself past his limits, which he seems prone to do."

"That does sound like a fine idea, Princess," Shiro said. "I'll go check on him and see if he's up to it."

"NO," Lance said loudly, and ducked his head when everyone looked at him, startled. "Um, no, that's a bad idea because he had just gone to sleep when Hunk and I left. Right, Hunk?"

Allura and Shiro were both giving Lance a strange look, but Hunk nodded his head after a moment. "It wouldn't be nice to disturb him," he said to Shiro. "Let Keith sleep for a while, we can suggest the medical pods if he still feels bad when he gets up." After a stretched silence, he added, "he looked _really_ worn out by the team-building exercises he and Lance were doing."

 _"HUNK,"_ Lance hissed.

Shiro shrugged and put his hands on his hips. "It's fine, as long as he's not actually sick with anything that could go around. The last thing we need is the entirety of Team Voltron being laid low with the space flu."

"...is that actually a thing?" Lance said. "Space flu."

Allura frowned thoughtfully. "I've never heard of a 'Space flu' sickness before. Of course there are a whole host of illnesses your could bring back from any of the planets and cultures we visit, but the Paladin suits especially have a built-in filtration system that helps cleanse the atmosphere you breathe and works almost as a secondary immune system. Otherwise, non-native pilots would be getting sick near-constantly."

"Makes sense," Hunk said. "All this alien tech is so weird, but it's also really kinda cool."

Lance nodded his head in agreement, but he was also aware that Shiro had continued to stare at him with a very perplexed expression. He had fully entered the kitchen by now but he hesitated, his attention divided between Allura's words and Lance himself; and that was making Lance uncomfortable. "I'm gonna go," he said, but Shiro blocked his path, walking toward him with a purpose and that uncomfortable feeling unspooled in his belly, shifting rapidly into something else entirely.

He had been standing back against the counter beside Hunk and had nowhere to go. "Shiro?" Lance said, but Shiro didn't seem to hear him, his brow drawn together in concentration. Lance realized in a panicked moment as Shiro stepped into his personal space that Shiro was _scenting_.

 _Shit._

He couldn't make himself move. All his muscles locked up as Shiro put his hands on Lance's shoulders, one hand distinctively heavier and cooler. He lowered his head and inhaled deeply in the space where the fabric of Lance's clothes sat bunched, between his shoulder and neck. "Shiro!" Allura said from far away, shocked.

Lance's heart was going approximately a million miles an hour, his entire body ramrod straight and arms pinned to his sides, trembling. "You smell like Keith," Shiro murmured, his voice gone an octave lower and huskier. Lance's brain _finally_ overrode everything else in flat-out emergency mode and he planted both his hands on Shiro's chest and shoved him away.

Shiro took a step back, his eyes wide and surprised as he seemed to come back to himself, blushing slightly. "Why did I - Lance, I'm _sorry_ , that was inappropriate-"

Lance was still standing with his arms extended, staring at Shiro with a terrified expression on his face. "I have to go," he managed to get out before he bolted from the room. 

* * *

In the safety of his own quarters, Lance slammed his palm on the wall control that closed the door behind him and locked it. He was panting, more winded than a run down the winding halls of the Castleship ought to leave him, and Lance braced himself back against the door, trying hard to catch his breath. With a surprised noise Lance realized that his legs weren't going to hold him for much longer, and sank to the floor, back still to the room's door.

He could still feel the brush of hot breath along the side of his neck, but the voice in his head wasn't Shiro's. Lance folded his arms over his head and curled forward, trying to keep it out, the voice that said softly, _you're an omega, you'll enjoy it, private…_

Focus on your breathing. One breath in, one breath out.

Lance jumped when he heard someone bang on the door, heart in his throat. "Lance, are you all right?" Hunk's voice. The relief is palpable.

"I'm fine," Lance said, lowering his arms but not moving from where he sat, his back to the door. "Is Shiro out there with you?"

"No. I think he's still trying to explain what just happened to Allura." Hunk's voice lowered just a bit, conspiratorially, but still enough to be heard through the bulkhead door. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," Lance said, because if he wasn't, Hunk would never go away. After a long moment of silence, he spoke again. "Hunk?"

"I'm still out here, man."

"Can you keep Shiro away from Keith? It's … it's his first heat."

Another long moment, and Lance felt the weight of it between them. Finally, he heard Hunk smack an open palm against the door. "Of course I will. Shit, what a bad time to present."

"Yeah. Sucks to be him." Lance closed his eyes and exhaled.

"You know, I didn't _really_ think you were taking advantage of him."

"I know."

Hunk asked, quietly, "will you open the door?"

Lance shook his head and didn't realize right away that Hunk couldn't see it. "I'm fine," he said. "Really. Will you go check on Keith though? He really needs to eat something, he hadn't touched the dinner tray when I left."

"Yeah, sure thing. You know you can come talk to me if you need to, too." Lance heard Hunk smack the outside of his door one more time, a parting noise, and after a moment there was no other noise from the hallway.

Lance tilted his head back against the door and closed his eyes, and then took a long, deep breath. He could still feel those fingers, than breath, that scent; trapped against the wall of lockers in the changing room and terrified….

And then Hunk, ripping an upperclassmen off of him, slamming him back into the bench so he tripped and sprawled back…

Lance groaned and shuddered. He was going to make certain that Keith made it through his first heat safely. No matter _what._


	4. Chapter 4

There was no true 'day' or 'night' in space. The Castleship ran on the equivalent of a twenty-two hour cycle since Altean days were slightly shorter than a full rotation of the Earth. This was only a tiny bit jarring for the crew, and led to far too many, far too early wake-up calls for everyone's liking. The only one who seemed unaffected by the time shift was Shiro, and Keith suspected that was because Shiro was barely sleeping as it was. Eventually, though, Pidge and Hunk got into the ship's internal systems and did _something_ to the chronometer that got everyone more-or-less synchronized … although the days were _still_ short.

Keith didn't have a phone, so he'd commandeered one of the Altean datapads in its stead. He used it mostly to help control the shipboard systems he had access too … as well as a clock, because it was _really_ inconvenient to not have some form of chrono or another. Fortunately the Altean datapads weren't all that much larger than Lance's oh-so-obnoxious phone, so it was easy enough to keep on him as he roamed the halls of the Castleship, restless in the worst way.

He had slunk off to the showers after Lance left, bolting after Hunk once he'd made certain Keith was all right to be left alone. He hadn't lingered long - which was a _really_ good thing, because Keith had spent far too much hot water trying to bring himself down off the high he'd gotten sucking Lance's goddamned cock, fucking _hell._ Lance was an omega, as he'd said too many times in the last ship cycle; he wasn't supposed to be doing _anything_ for Keith, let alone be stuck in his head like a splinter lodged under his skin. Keith rubbed a hand over his face and tried to pretend for a moment that he'd successfully dismissed the flush that seemed to permanently paint his face. How much longer was this heat nonsense going to _last?_

He could _ask_ Lance, the reasonable portion of his brain offered up in a tone that could only be described as _sly._ He could go knock on Lance's door in the middle of the night and certainly _nothing_ else would come of it. Nothing at all, just a perfectly innocent rendezvous where he made sure that Lance convinced Hunk to not blab to the … four remaining people on this ship that didn't know that Keith was in heat. He groaned and made a concentrated effort to not rub his hand over the front of his already too-tight pants, because despite the war between logic and need he was waging, the thought of seeing Lance right now was _really_ nice.

The pants were really distracting, if he was being honest. It was the first time he'd put some on since this afternoon, in the showers … and he was already itching to rip them off again. He only had to wear them long enough to take his used dishes to the kitchen and maybe grab something to drink, praying the entire time that stretching his legs and getting out of his room would dismiss the crawling feeling under his skin of wanting to be touched again.

It was very quiet in the ship at 'night.' Keith's footsteps seemed to echo more, the constant hum of a ship in motion all around him more muted that during the day. He hesitated a moment at the end of the corridor that bisected the pilot's quarters and realized he was lingering in front of Shiro's room. Like … he was supposed to be there. Keith swallowed hard and thought about how easy it would be to knock on the door, slide into the room, climb on top of Shiro, and….

The crawling feeling got worse, and Keith rubbed his arms and shivered as he hurried away toward the common area, food tray and plates tucked tight against his side. He was _not_ thinking about that. This entire thing was just the heat talking, a human, biological imperative that was something he _knew_ he was stronger than.

A biological imperative.

Something about that turn of phrase bothered him, the worse spoken too fast, rushed together. It rattled around in his head as he put the tray on the counter in the kitchen area and dumped the dishes in the empty sink area for the mice, or Coran and Hunk to find in the morning. He was too distracted to feel guilty about leaving his mess, something tingling at the edge of his perception and Keith rubbed his hand over his nose and scowled.

He could _smell_ … something.

It wasn't the food, and it wasn't the strange, musky aroma he'd gotten used to permeating his room … it was something familiar and warm and intimate, in a good way. When he lifted his palm from his nose Keith realized he recognized the scent with a little start, it was _Shiro._ He could smell that Shiro had been in here earlier in the day, that he had been awash with a strong, potent emotion … and that there was another scent twined around it, something faintly less familiar but softer, and calming. He couldn't deal with the way that the scents pricked along his shoulders and down his back, and _fuck_ he was not going to get hard before he got back to his room, this entire omega thing was goddamned _bullshit._

Instead of going to his room though, Keith stormed in the opposite direction, toward the training deck. He wondered if activating it at the equivalent of one in the morning would wake anyone but the Castleship was large and really, he didn't even care if it did. There were plenty of other ways to work out the frustration in his veins, and an entire Castleship worth of combat-ready gladiator bots to keep him busy.

To his surprise though when the door to the training deck parted all the lights were on and the room was already active. Keith hesitated in the doorway but then continued through, stepping into the large, open area that served as a combat ring when no other training protocols were engaged.

The scent hit him before he even registered what he was looking at. Sweat and musk and more besides, it took his blood from hot to boiling in a heartbeat. It was Shiro using the training deck, of _course_ it was; in the middle of some of the combat drones and working out his frustration in the same way that Keith had been planning to. Sweat was dripping from his hair and down his neck, he had clearly been at this for a while - and he looked tired, and almost overwhelmed by the number of them.

Keith didn't think twice. He always kept his bayard with him, even on the ship; and without even a moment of hesitation he jumped into the fray, the Red Lion's bayard shifting into its familiar form as his sword in a twinkling. The arc of his swing caught the blade in the shoulder of one of the gladiator bots and didn't stop there, continuing down through its torso until the drone was nearly bisected. Shiro glanced back at Keith at met his eyes and they nodded at the same time, squaring off, each facing half the gladiator bots that had been circling Shiro alone.

Now _this_ made Keith feel like himself again. Adrenaline pumping, he slashed and parried and fought back the gladiator bots one and two at a time. He had no idea what level Shiro had set it at and how many the digital system would keep producing, but he didn't bother to stop and keep count. As soon as he felled one it dropped into the floor and out sight, and another would rise to take its place.

The regimen didn't last as long as he had hoped, though; as Shiro slammed his Galra hand through a drone's chest cavity and took it down. The last of the gladiator bots vanished into the floor at Shiro's feet and Keith stood there, chest heaving and watched Shiro's back.

Keith deactivated his bayard, felt the balance shift minutely into its sheathed form. "I didn't think anyone else would be up," he said, breathless in the best way, feeling his shirt sticking to him with the quick sweat he had worked up. Shiro turned and looked at him, his own chest heaving and Keith couldn't describe the change in atmosphere of the room. Shiro's face was _weird_ \- like he couldn't quite figure something out, and it was setting off alarm bells that Keith was doing his level best to ignore.

"Keith," Shiro said, and dragged the back of his flesh hand over his mouth, still staring at Keith in that uncomfortable way. His eyes didn't look right, and Keith swallowed.

Deliberately, Shiro turned fully toward him and Keith realized that if he was going to leave he needed to leave _now_ , but for some reason he couldn't will his muscles to cooperate. In fact, it seemed like there was a major disconnect between his brain and his body at the moment, as Shiro stood far too close, the fingers on his right hand touching Keith's jaw softly, tilting his head up to look into Shiro's face properly.

Then Shiro was kissing him and that blew the last of Keith's circuits. He dropped his bayard and wrapped his arms over Shiro's shoulders, which was a _good_ thing because his legs decided to give out and they both went to floor. Somehow, miraculously, Keith didn't hit his head on the way down but maybe that was because Shiro cradled it in his real hand - and they didn't stop kissing at any point during his descent.

There was no discussion, there didn't need to be. Keith groaned into Shiro's mouth, pinned to the floor by his weigh. He arched his back and hooked one leg over Shiro's, the arousal in his belly flaring hot.

He was harder than he'd been even earlier, both the front and back of his pants growing damp with his excitement. Keith scrabbled between them blindly, hand slipping down between their bodies and intent on removing the barriers between them before Shiro caught his hand and pinned it to the floor instead. Keith groaned and struggled underneath Shiro as Shiro nuzzled along his jaw and kissed up toward his hairline. " _Shiro_ ," Keith gasped, and curled the fingers of his free hand into the skin-tight black shirt Shiro wore.

They were going to have sex on the floor in the training deck. Common sense screamed by like a starfight; Keith barely paid it any mind, his body aching with the need for Shiro's touch. It was the middle of the night, there would be no interruptions here.

Shiro but his hand on the floor beside Keith's head and locked his elbow, pushing his body up just a bit. They stared at each other, wide-eyed and panting, Shiro's face flushed dark and undoubtedly matching Keith's own. He released Keith's hand and Keith hooked it into Shiro's shirt too, both hand hands gripping the fabric tight, keeping him down. "Are you gonna fuck me?" Keith asked, breathless, shameless … and that question seemed to trigger something as Shiro's eyes widened farther.

"Keith," Shiro said, breathless. "I…"

"Fuck me," Keith pleaded, head flopped back to the floor, legs entwined with Shiro's. "I need it, Shiro, I need _you-_ "

Shiro shook his head slowly once, and then again with conviction. "Not like this," he said heavily, voice tinged with regret. "Not here."

Keith let out a low growl of frustration and yanked. Shiro was off-balance and he fell down again Keith, who tucked his face again Shiro's neck and _bit._ Shiro gave a startled, pained noise and rolled off Keith, one hand clamped to the side of his neck as Keith shamelessly pressed the flat of his hand over the large and apparent bulge in his pants.

"You're in heat," Shiro said, on his knees and staring at Keith, wide-eyed.

"No shit," Keith snarled, curled up slightly. He let out a shocked yelp as Shiro's hand slammed his shoulder back into the floor, and Shiro's face was too close and not close enough all at once, brows drawn together in scrutiny.

"Is that why Lance smelled like you?"

Keith panted and avoided looking directly into Shiro's face. "Does it matter?"

" _Is that why Lance smelled like you?"_

"Lance is an omega too, he can't do anything for me," Keith said. "Not like you can."

They stared at each other, chests heaving, the scent in the air heavy and oppressive. It was Shiro who broke the gaze first. Again. "Go back to your room," he said finally, and Keith groaned, disappointed.

" _Why_ won't you-"

"That's an _order!_ "

Shiro's barked voice made Keith freeze in place, the authoritative tone overriding the remainder of his objection. After a moment, Keith snarled loud and rolled to his feet, scooped up his bayard and bolted out the door without looking back. He left Shiro sitting in the middle of the floor, elbow on his knee and hand in his hair as he desperately tried to calm himself down.

What in the _hell_ was going on on this ship?


	5. Chapter 5

Lance was barely awake, dressed only in his pajamas as he stood at the door to his room. He rubbed one eye and yawned as the door hissed open, not even in the slightest bit thrilled at being awakened in this manner. "Yeah, what it it?" he grumbled. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Keith staggered through as soon as the bulkhead doors parted, pitching forward and directly into Lance - who was not only _not_ awake enough to command reflexes, but was in fact holding his pillow under one arm and completely unprepared to be catching anybody. Lance went down under Keith with a startled yelp. "What _the-_ " Lance's voice went up and back down as Keith pressed his forehead into Lance's chest, hands holding tight to the baggy tunic shirt that served as his pajama top. "... _Keith?"_

Keith was breathing raggedly, great gulping breaths that reminded Lance immediately of his reaction in the showers; Keith unable to control himself or calm down. "Whoa, whoa," Lance said, and realized that Keith weighed more than he thought when he couldn't easily shift him. "Keith, buddy…"

He was trembling and soaked through with sweat. "I hate this," Keith said, his forehead to Lance's shoulder. "I fucking _hate_ this."

"Yeah," Lance said, and awkwardly patted Keith's back. "I know."

"I don't _like_ not being in control, I can't stand it!" Keith raised his head finally and Lance was thankful that he didn't seem to be crying at least, because _that_ was something he had absolutely no toolkit for dealing with.

Keith stared up at Lance, and Lance could feel his heartbeat, rapid and uneven, just like his breaths. Lance inhaled and said, "you're really kind of heavy, you know that? Hunk overfeeding you on the goo? How much do you even _weigh_ , anyway, I mean Hunk's sat on me before and even _then-_ "

"Fuck you," Keith snapped and looked away. His face was still red, even by the dim light of Lance's quarters, but the questions had served as intended and derailed Keith's train of thought.

"You wish," Lance said, and pushed at Keith. "Would you get _off_ me? I wasn't kidding, you weigh a _ton._ "

Keith put his hands on the floor and stared down at Lance, and Lance felt the heat on his cheeks as well, he couldn't help but flush at such intense scrutiny. "What are you staring at?" Lance demanded, and Keith shook his head once and then closed his eyes.

Unexpectedly, he laughed.

Lance narrowed his eyes. "Are you laughing at me?"

Keith shook his head but continued to chuckle, his laugh less harsh and more exhausted-sounding.

"You _are_. Stop laughing at me!"

Keith pushed himself up on his knees and dragged his hand over his eyes, the chuckles dying off into quietude. Then he sighed deeply and smiled down at Lance, who was more than a little twigged out by the soft, amused expression on Keith's face. "Thanks, Lance," Keith said, before dragging himself to his feet. Lance sat upright, and Keith stumbled past him.

"Hey, wait a sec," Lance said said as Keith flopped face-first into the bunk. "That's _my_ bed!"

Keith only moved enough to kick off his boots and draw his feet up onto the bed. "If you don't like it there's a bed in my room," Keith said, his back to Lance.

"Are you _kidding_ me? I'm not going to go sleep in your bed, your sheets are full of spunk - get your sweaty ass out of my nice clean sheets!" Lance flung himself to his feet, pillow forgotten on the floor behind him. "I will _make_ you move," he threatened.

Without even looking behind him, Keith reached out and grabbed Lance by the front of his pajamas. Lance let out an undignified squawk as he found himself yanked down into his bed. "Room enough for both of us," Keith said, as Lance landed half on the mattress and half on Keith. "Shut up and go to sleep, Lance."

"Sweaty, stinking bed invaders going to dirty my sheets," Lance muttered as he settled down beside Keith. "This is going in the 'owe me' column, I hope you know."

"Shut up."

* * *

When Lance woke it was because a warm body had shifted against his, and that was a foreign enough sensation that his body sent all alerts to his brain to man battlestations, there was an intruder. Fortunately that response required much more alertness than Lance had, and when he squinted open his eyes to the dimness of his quarters his first thought was that _fuck_ , he was comfortable.

Keith had, at some unknown point in the night, rolled over and draped his arm over Lance's side, pulling him close. He was a little _too_ warm - still caught in the throes of his first heat, Lance thought sleepily - and despite being a sweat-soaked mess he was even starting to smell good. Lance yawned and snuggled back down into his pillow. He could deal with this, Keith was much easier to handle when he wasn't opening his mouth.

Just as the thought had passed Lance's mind, Keith made a small, needy noise into the back of Lance's neck and murmured Shiro's name. Lance's eyes snapped open again, but before he could even think about moving Keith's hand pulled him back, pressing Lance's hips back to Keith's. Lance froze as he felt Keith's body grind slowly against his.

You have _got_ to be _kidding._

Lance started looking for something large and squishy to jam his elbow into, like a kidney or something, but Keith wasn't exactly _Hunk_ in regards to being squishy. But hell, Lance wasn't going to lay here and get sleep-humped by an omega having a wet dream in _his_ bed and _his_ no-longer-clean-anyway sheets, no sir. How could this get any worse?

As soon as the thought crossed Lance's _mind_ he heard someone outside his door. "Hey, Lance? You up yet? I can't find Keith, he's not in his room."

Lance groaned softly and elbowed Keith in a non-squishy location, which felt like his chest. " _Stop it,_ " he hissed, as Keith buried his face a little lower, pressing it to Lance's shoulder. His hips were moving faster, rubbing the very apparent bulge in his pants into Lance's ass, and Lance blushed hard. He wasn't about to admit that it felt _good,_ dammit.

Hunk smacked his hand into the door again. "Lance, I swear if you're wearing headphones again…"

Pidge's voice was more matter-of-fact. "If he's wearing _my_ headphones that he stole from _my_ backpack, he wouldn't hear you anyway. They're noise-canceling."

 _Yes, I am wearing headphones,_ Lance thought at the door, trying somehow to tune into Hunk's thought process. _Noise-dampening headphones. Go away._ Keith wrapped both of his arms around Lance's chest, keeping him down in the bed.

There was silence for a long moment, long enough for Lance to hope that Hunk had gotten one of the eleven different psychic messages Lance was trying to send him to scram because he had enough problems in his life. But, of course things could _not_ go his way, not even in the slightest because after another moment his definitely-locked bulkhead door slid open and the automatically-dimmed lights came back up to full daylight hours brightness.

Pidge stood in the doorway with a datapad in one hand with a wire that was clearly plugged into the wall out of sight, but she was mostly overshadowed by Hunk. "There's no point to locks if you just _ignore_ them," Hunk was saying pointedly, and Pidge shrugged.

"Good morning," she said cheerfully when she saw Lance flail into a seated position, his arms pinwheeling frantically. "Figured you had my headphones on, so… any idea where Keith got to? The Red Lion's still here so he's gotta be squirreled away on this ship somewhere, Allura's looking for him."

Lance opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to vocalize.

Keith sat up beside him with a groan, rubbing his hand over his eyes and blinking away sleep. "Is it morning _already?_ "

If Lance hadn't been so mortified by the entire situation, the reaction from Hunk would have been absolutely worth it. As it was, Pidge had a moment of confusion; "Keith?" she said, surprised. Hunk's face managed to go through an entire spectrum of emotion in less than two seconds.

Then he picked up Pidge and walked away.

"Are you _kidding_ me," Lance half-yelled, half-moaned. Keith looked around blearily as Lance stumbled out of bed, tripping over Keith's boots and wiping out on the floor. " _Hunk!_ "

Keith watched Lance scramble to his feet, still holding one of the boots that had caused his tumble. Without another look behind him Lance lunged out the still-open bulkhead door in pursuit. "Everybody's so _loud_ ," Keith muttered, before flopping back over onto his side and pulling the cover up over his head.

* * *

Shiro just happened to be leaving his own quarters when Hunk went running by, holding Pidge above his head with both hands and yelling as they went. "I won't let you corrupt Pidge, too!"

Right on his heels, barefoot and in his pajamas came Lance. He was waving one of Keith's boots like a club. "I _told_ you, you've got the wrong idea! It's not what you think!"

Their yelling continued, diminishing as they disappeared down a fork in the corridor and heading out of sight.

Shiro sighed deeply and headed for the kitchens. Maybe if he was lucky today would be the day he would discover coffee (or some Altean equivalent) in the larder, because, honestly? He _really_ fucking needed coffee.


	6. Chapter 6

When Keith walked onto the bridge of the castle-ship, he fully expected an ambush. However, while everyone was dressed and on deck for the most part they were standing around the main display panel and looking up at the now-increasingly-familiar alien runes. "What's going on?" Keith asked as he stopped an arm's length away from Shiro and conscious of every inch of the distance between them.

"Not quite sure yet," Shiro said, his arms folded and eyes on the screen.

"We've detected an emergency beacon," Allura was standing at the center console. She had one hand on the keypad, and her expression was at the same time distant, and concerned. "It's coming from this region, but this star system is mostly abandoned." The forward display was active, showing a mostly empty star field and the curve of a brownish red planet with a slight shimmer of atmosphere.

Lance shrugged his shoulders. "You're the one who said we can't not help people in need, Princess, we should check it out."

"It's not quite that simple, I'm afraid," Coran said, standing at the main controls behind them. "The emergency beacon is very, very old, and it's broadcasting on a distorted frequency. We can't pinpoint its exact location on the surface."

"It also could be a trap," Hunk said. "Another one. Because you know what sort of luck we have with these things." He jabbed his finger at the viewscreen. "You even said that there were traces of Galra in this system, doesn't anyone else find that a little bit suspicious?"

"Traces of Galra," Keith said, eyebrow raised. "What do you mean by that?"

"There's a decimated frigate in orbit above the planet," Pidge said. She was the only one not staring either out the viewscreen or at the display, seated in the navigator's chair and typing quickly. "It's old, too. Doesn't look like any of the ones we've seen so far." Keith walked over to her chair and put one hand on the back, leaning forward as Pidge brought up a slightly-blurry shot taken by the castle-ship's external cameras. The ship did indeed look nothing like the battle cruisers they had seen so far - it had been destroyed by a powerful shot through the forward hull, and the hulk hung dark and motionless, caught in an eternal silent orbit by the planet's gravity.

Pidge pointed at the dark blur around the hole. "The debris field is huge, but it looks like most of it is still there. I want to check it out, although I don't know if there's anything worth salvaging."

"Every time we get close to Galra wreckage it seems like they turn up," Lance said. "We should leave the wreck alone."

"I agree with Lance," Hunk said, and nodded his head.

"But we should totally go planet-side, see what that emergency beacon is about," he continued. "There might not be anything left, but you never know. We can't just ignore it."

"I no longer agree with Lance," Hunk said.

"Lance is right," Allura said, and Lance preened a little. Keith rolled his eyes. "Coran, do you think you can narrow down the location of broadcast?"

"It will be difficult," Coran said, and gestured to the screen. The forward view was replaced by a rough schematic of the planet below. "The planet itself seems to be what is causing the electromagnetic distortion. It could take weeks to pinpoint its origin."

"We certainly don't have weeks," Shiro said. "We'll have to scan from the surface, then." He glanced around the bridge at everyone, and his gaze lingered on Keith's for what felt like an eternity. "All right, everybody, suit up."

"Keith," Allura said, as everyone filed out. "A word, if I could?"

Keith hesitated a moment, and Lance passed him. "Busted," Lance said in a singsong voice, and Keith managed to jab an elbow into his side before he could get out of range, which provoked a squeak of pain. "Yes, Princess?" Keith said, as the doors to the bridge whispered closed behind Shiro, the last one out.

Allura turned around completely and looked at him. She still wore a concerned expression on her face, and Keith folded his arms and waited. "Are you certain you're okay to fly?" she asked finally. "This isn't necessarily a combat mission, and if you wished to remain onboard..."

"I'm __fine__ ," Keith said hotly. "There's nothing wrong."

Allura raised an eyebrow at this, and glanced past Keith to Coran, who still stood at the console. He coughed into his hand discretely, and Allura looked back at Keith. "As a paladin we don't discourage getting to know your teammates," Coran said. "Not even intimately, as it can mean a stronger, noble bond between partners-"

"Oh my god," Keith said.

"What Coran is trying to say," Allura said and sent a pointed look at Coran, "Is that we understand that it is a delicate time for you. Shiro explained a little about Earthling's reproductive cycles earlier."

This was officially worse than an ambush, and the only saving grace was that the rest of the team was not here to witness this. "There's nothing _ _delicate__ going on," Keith said, aware that he was flushed pink. "I don't know what he told you, but I'm perfectly capable of flying the red lion right now!"

Allura nodded her head, hands clasped before her. "I am certain you are, but I just wanted to let you know that we are here for you if you need us."

Having run an entire gamut of emotion in approximately two minutes Keith was just left with resignation. "Is that all, Princess? I need to go."

"Please be careful," Allura said as Keith turned and marched toward the door himself.

"If you need to have your room assignment updated," Coran started to tell him, but the elevator doors thankfully cut him off. Keith stood in the center of the lift as it started its descent toward the ready room, then he ran both of his hands back into his hair and fought the urge to yell his frustration out.

Fuck, he really needed to punch someone. Where was Lance when he needed him?

* * *

"We've narrowed down the location of the broadcast to the largest continent in the upper hemisphere," Allura's voice said through the communications channel. "I don't think we're going to manage anything smaller than that."

Lance leaned forward in his seat and turned his head as far as he could in one direction. "How do we know which hemisphere is the upper one?"

"The __northern__ hemisphere," Keith's voice was extra snippy.

"We're in space. There's no magnetic north in space."

"Even you can't be __that__ dumb, we're about to enter the atmosphere!" The remainder of whatever it was Keith was saying was overridden by Shiro's voice, firm and loud.

"Keith, Lance! Stow it!"

"I'm beaming the transmission frequency to everyone's lions," Pidge said, and Lance looked down at the display in front of him; although he really couldn't understand any of what crossed the screen as the lions shared information. "If we split up we can canvass the continent pretty quickly. If the scanners pick up the frequency, it'll light up your board."

"Thank you, Pidge," Shiro said. "Everyone got that?"

A chorus of affirmatives echoed through the line. "Keep your communications channel open and clear," Shiro said. "I'm dispatching coordinates for everyone to start their sweeps."

The nice thing about piloting semi-sentient alien tech meant that Lance didn't have to interpret the alien coordinates himself; the blue lion immediately turned in the right direction and began flying toward magnetic north. He exhaled and kept his hands on the controls, watching the scenery fly past at record speed.

The planet itself looked, frankly, inhospitable. The ground below was barely more than desert, rolling dunes of brownish-red sand and mountains in the distance. Occasionally he'd spot groupings of some kind of foliage, it was as dingy as the rest of the landscape. "Not getting any readings on lifeforms," Lance reported aloud.

"This planet was likely abandoned after the Galra attacked," Allura's image shimmered to life on the right side of his screen. Lance nodded his head and tried not to think about what kind of devastation had rained down upon the inhabitants however long ago this occurred.

"Hey guys," Hunk's voice said. "Not to be a pessimist, but I get the feeling we might just be a little too late."

"Even if there are no survivors at the beacon site, we might still be able to learn something from the wreckage," Pidge said.

"You know how in the movies, like, someone always says 'I have a bad feeling about this,' and it turns out to be, I don't know like, a ridiculous understatement?"

"Hunk," there was some interference in Keith's voice. "Don't do it, man. Don't jinx us."

"Can we maybe focus, guys?" Shiro said.

"Is anyone else picking up that interference?" The static was now present in Pidge's voice, too.

Hunk said, "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Damn it, Hunk!"

"It's probably just the electromagnetic fields that Coran detected," Shiro said, but now his voice started to sound fuzzy too.

"It's not!" Allura's voice sounded far-off and tinny, like she was talking into a metal bowl. "It's some kind of-" the transmission cut off from the castle-ship, and Lance looked at the viewscreen in alarm, only to see static. He leaned forward in his chair and looked up, but the atmosphere of the abandoned planet reflected the same dingy color as the ground, with a thick cover of dirty grey clouds.

"Guys, I just lost Allura," Lance said. "Maybe we should head back to the ship, she sounded worried."

There was no response from the communicator. Lance yanked on the controls and brought the blue lion to a stop, hovering above the ground. "Guys?" Lance said again, and there was only a minor note of panic to the edge of his voice.

He turned the blue lion around, headed back in the direction he came. "Guys, do you copy? I'm not receiving, anyone there?" Nothing but static came back on his line, and Lance swore and hit buttons. "Shiro, Hunk... anyone?"

After another long moment of silent, there was a small fizz of reception, and a recognizable voice. "-ance? Lance, do you co-"

"Keith, is that you? What happened?" Lance turned his lion just a bit, trying to figure out which direction Keith would be in. He hadn't paid much attention when they fanned out, and he was realizing now that he definitely should have. There was no additional response.

"Okay," Lance said out loud. "Now is not the time to panic."

Who was he kidding. It was the __perfect__ time to panic.

* * *

The black lion hung out in the upper atmosphere, above the clouds that swirled heavy over the upper half of the planet. Shiro sat forward and stared down through the clouds, as if he could make the lion's sensors penetrate through the abnormal atmosphere through sheer force of will alone. He saw Pidge's green lion come up through the clouds again, quick.

"Still nothing," Pidge reported as her lion floated in low orbit beside Shiro's. "You get too close to the surface and you lose everything, all communications go out, all sensors. I could barely get a scan in before things went down."

"How are we going to find Keith and Lance if we can't get a message off to them?" Hunk asked worriedly.

That was the million dollar question. Shiro sat back in his seat and sighed, before flipping his communicator back on. "Lance and Keith aren't stupid," he said. "Once they realize they're not picking up anyone they'll fly out of the atmosphere and we'll be able to regain contact."

"And what if they don't? What if something's happened to them?" Hunk asked.

"We'll deal with that if it comes up," Shiro said.

"I still can't raise the castle-ship on comm," Pidge said, an edge to her voice. "At all."

"Orbit took it to the other side of the planet," Shiro said. "We'll regroup there, make sure that the Princess is all right, and figure out the next part of our plan."

"What did I say," Hunk said dejectedly. "Emergency beacons are bad news, we never should have left the ship."

"Keith and Lance can take care of themselves," Shiro said. "Whatever's going on, I'm sure they're fine."


	7. Chapter 7

The emergency beacon was still blinking a faded amber light, sitting on top of a long-dead console. Keith brushed dust and dirt off the computer, but exposure to the elements had long since corroded it beyond any hope of repair. The knobs and dials were all labeled in unfamiliar alien script (as opposed to the slightly-familiar Altean he had grown used to seeing); and the beacon had no writing on it at all. Keith picked it up and turned it off.

The small civilization was long-abandoned. It was the only bit of settled land he had seen across the miles of wastelands, and it was little more than a collection of stone buildings. Most were still standing, although few showed scarring across the sides, burn marks from firefights. There were no graves, no bodies, and little by way of furnishings had weathered the ravages of time. Keith had found the beacon in what appeared to be a command room, which still had a large stone table squared off in the center of the room. He walked to an open window, a square hewn from solid rock and rested his hands on the sill, staring out into the wastes.

There was what appeared to be a forest of some kind, the vegetation the same color as the landscape. It looked dead, and really, Keith didn't have any desire to visit it even if he __could__. Which he couldn't, at the moment.

When he landed in the settlement's square and disembarked, the red lion as usual put up its protective particle shield. But when Keith went to return, the first time... well, the lion did not drop its shield to allow him access. "Oh, come __on__ ," Keith said, and smacked the barrier with his open hand. "I'm your paladin, why are you doing this to me now?"

Of course there was no response, and it wasn't like Keith could radio the others and tell them he was currently locked out of his irritatingly recalcitrant lion, so he set about exploring the small area and clearing it to ensure that he wasn't about to be attacked.

There didn't appear to be any life, of any kind. Besides the fact that the settlement was abandoned, Keith saw absolutely no evidence of animals of any kind. The place was eeriely quiet, the only sound the crunch of his footsteps on the dry earth, and the wind whistling occasionally through the buildings. The atmosphere was breathable, although it had an acrid, unpleasant scent to it so Keith hadn't taken off his helmet. He had spent a good measure of time by himself on Earth, by choice, but this was different.

He was completely alone, on a barren, dead world.

The daylight didn't seem to change, filtered through clouds grey and flat. Keith sat up on the roof and kicked his legs off the stone, wondering what happened with the others; if their lions kicked them out too or if it was just Keith whose lion had to act like a real cat and ignore him. He could imagine Lance's outright indignation if the blue lion did that to him, and Keith shifted a little, uncomfortable. But then he thought about Shiro and he grew __really__ uncomfortable, and the weight of the fact that he was still in heat settled on him and Keith groaned.

This shit was __obnoxious__ , how in the hell did Lance deal with it? Clearly the suppressants helped, but how did he deal with being so obviously horny all the goddamned time...?

Then Keith remembered it was Lance he was thinking of, and sighed. Okay, so Lance __didn't__ deal with it, he was just annoying about wanting to get laid at anything that would even consider him for half a second.

A soft hum filled the air, a distant, faint vibration. The area was so quiet that it was obvious well before he could see anything at all that it was something approaching, and __fast.__ Keith pulled himself to his feet quickly, bayard in hand and prepared for trouble; just in case. He relaxed a little once he spotted the source of the noise, and waved one hand in the air. It was the blue lion.

* * *

"Don't get out of your lion!" Keith called, running over to where Lance had set the blue lion down next to the red lion. Lance clearly didn't hear him, as he hopped down from the winch. "Red won't let me back in!"

"What?" Lance said, as the blue lion raised its particle barrier as well. He glanced back at his lion and put his hand on the particle barrier, but it went right through and he stepped through it. Keith drew up short and stared at him, then glared at the red lion. "Having trouble with your ride, Keith?"

"I hate you," Keith said, and folded his arms, turning his glare on Lance. Lance smirked at him, then looked around.

"No one else made it here, huh?"

Keith shook his head. "I lost contact with everyone, but I found the beacon." He held up the small transmitter, and tossed it at Lance, who caught it and held it up, squinting at the device.

"Yeah, me too," Lance said. "Well, I mean I lost contact with everyone."

"I knew what you meant." Keith sighed. "Shiro and the others probably went back to the ship when they lost contact with everyone, I doubt they would have stayed on the ground."

"Well that's easily solved," Lance said. "I'll fly us back to the ship, then Allura can walk you through whatever mumbo-jumbo is needed to get you back on the same wavelength as the red lion."

"I'm not leaving Red," Keith said hotly.

Lance looked around, then looked back at Keith. "This is an abandoned planet, Keith. There's no one here to steal him."

"First, Red is a she," Keith said, holding up his fingers. "And second, no way. I am not leaving her behind, I'm going to figure this out."

"Huh," Lance squinted at the red lion behind the glimmering particle shield, then looked over to his blue lion, and back again. "How do you figure he's a she?"

"I'm not surprised you can't tell, you couldn't even tell about Pidge, and how long had you known __her?__ "

"Low blow, dude, she was pretending to be a guy."

"Not very successfully."

" _ _Everyone__ thought she was a guy!"

"No, I think that __you__ assumed, and no one else bothered to correct you, least of all Pidge." Keith smirked. "Besides, it's plenty obvious the lions are female."

"Oh yeah?" Lance puffed up, ready for another argument.

"Male lions have __manes__ , dumbass."

Lance opened his mouth, finger in the air. No sound came out. Then he closed his mouth and looked at the lions again. "Fuck," he said, and crossed his arms. Keith gloated a bit. "Well, if you're so __smart__ , why did __your__ lion lock you out and mine still likes me?"

Keith's triumphant expression fizzled just a little. "I'll figure it out," he muttered.

"Sure you will," Lance said, and spread his hands, looking consciously put-out. "I guess I'll just have to stay here with you until you do, because I'd never be able to live with myself if some ghost came along and ganked you in the night."

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Keith said, although there was an edge to his tone, like he was saying it more to convince himself than Lance.

"You keep telling yourself that, mi amigo," Lance said, and clapped Keith on the shoulder as he passed. Keith froze for a moment at the contact, but if Lance noticed it he didn't say so. Keith let out a long sigh and then realized that Lance was leaving the main square.

"Hey, where are you going? Wait for me!"

* * *

"So, it's good news, bad news time," Pidge said, stretching her arms above her head. "Good news, is I figured out how we can scan for Lance and Keith."

"That __is__ good news," Allura said.

"Yeah," Shiro said. "So what's the bad news?"

"The bad news is it's the clouds that are interfering with our scanners," Pidge said. "There's some heavy metal content in the cloud that's causing all sorts of distortion and interference. Even thermal imaging won't penetrate through them. I can get clear maps of every portion of the planet that isn't under cloud cover, but the rest..." she gestured up at the large viewscreen, which was mirrored to her datapad. The planet rotated illustratively, but there were large swathes of map missing. "I've never seen anything like it."

"So we just have to wait for the cloud cover to move," Allura said.

"It moves slowly," Pidge said. "There doesn't seem to be much by the way of weather patterns any more. But it does move."

"Hopefully one of them will have a clue and fly back to the ship before we have to worry about it," Shiro said. "But if they don't, we can scan for them. How long do you estimate until the clouds have shifted enough that we can look for them?"

"Couple of hours, max," Pidge said. Shiro nodded, and turned his attention back to the viewscreen, as Pidge's scanning program slowly, slowly filled in the blank portions of the map.

* * *

Lance took off his helmet and sat back against the low wall. He let out a long, aggravated groan and looked over at Keith, who was sitting cross-legged, his eyes closed, clearly concentrating. "Haven't you communed enough with your lion?" Lance asked. "I'm __hungry.__ "

"No one asked you to stay," Keith said, without opening his eyes.

Lance rolled his eyes and scuffed one of his boots through the dirt. "I don't know, maybe your lion is worried that you're going to ruin its upholstery." He snorted when Keith opened his eyes and gave Lance a dirty look.

"What the fuck is __that__ supposed to mean?"

"You probably should scotchgard the pilot's seat or something, if you get to thinking about Shiro you'll get so __wet__ _–_ OW!"

Barring any rocks within arm's reach, Keith threw his helmet at Lance, who ducked. "You're a __dick__ ," he yelled, and Lance laughed, which made Keith get up and storm over, intent on kicking him. Lance laughed again, despite the kick aimed at his ribs that connected enough for him to make a whuffing noise.

As Keith stomped past to retrieve his helmet, Lance rubbed his side. "You know, there's nothing __wrong__ with being an omega," he said. Keith paused, his back to Lance and holding his helmet in both hands. He sighed, and turned to look back at Lance.

"I never said that there was," he responded.

"You sure act like it," Lance said with a loose shrug. He fanned himself a little with one hand, and gave Keith a measured look. "You've been freaking out about it since you found out."

"No, I've been freaking out about it because my __hormones__ are out of whack," Keith said. "You would be too, if you were having your first heat in the middle of __this__ ," he gestured with one arm. "We're in the middle of an intergalactic war, sex is the last thing I want to be worried about!"

"Yeah, but I'm not," Lance said. "It'll be better, when this heat ends. The first one is usually the most intense, anyway."

"Goody," Keith muttered. He looked back at the lions and sighed. "I don't think it'll be better, though. I can't stop thinking about Shiro, and it's so _ _frustrating.__ "

Lance was quiet for a long moment. Keith started to turn pink, which was really kind of cute, even for him, and then Lance shook his head sharply. "If you want Shiro to fuck you that badly, you should just tell him so," Lance said finally. "But you have to be careful around alphas, Keith."

Keith groaned aloud, and ran his hand back through his hair. "I can't believe I'm about to tell you this, but I already __did__."

"What?" Lance's surprise overrode everything else. "Oh, __shit.__ He turned you __down?__ "

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Keith said, and sat down against the wall beside Lance, closer than he was sitting before.

"Well, we could talk about something else," Lance offered.

"Like what?"

"I dunno, basketball?"

Keith leaned forward and stared at Lance, who shrugged at him. " _ _Basketball?__ " Keith repeated, incredulous. "You don't know a thing about basketball."

"Well, it's something else," Lance said defensively. "I could ask why you're having such a shit time with your lion, you wanna talk about that instead?"

"I'm not having a shit time with Red, she's just being aloof."

"Aloof."

"She's a cat, I've always had a hard time with cats-"

"You know, I've overheard Shiro jerking off in the shower muttering your name."

"What the actual __fuck__ , Lance." Keith buried his face in his hands. Lance smirked at how red his ears had gotten, then rubbed his own hand over his face, because it was uncomfortably hot on the surface of this barren world. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Well, it's fun to get you all riled up," Lance said truthfully. Keith raised his head from his hands and glared at Lance, who shrugged and smirked. "And also, if I'm successful in hooking you two up," he leaned in Keith's direction conspiratorially, as if there was anyone else on this planet who could overhear him. "I wanna watch."

"Oh my __god__ ," Keith yelled, and hit Lance almost square in the face with his helmet.


	8. Chapter 8

Keith was standing with both hands pressed on the particle barrier of the red lion, his eyes closed and concentrating hard when he heard Lance mutter, " _ _fuck__ ," mostly under his breath. He had been quiet for quite a while now, and Keith let out a loud, aggravated sigh. " _ _Lance__ ," he said, annoyed.

"Yeah, whatever, sorry I interrupted your bonding time." Lance's voice was equally annoyed. Keith opened his eyes and looked back, as Lance pulled himself to his feet, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"What's wrong with you?" Keith asked, as Lance picked up his helmet at put it on.

"Nothing, I gotta take a leak," Lance said. There was something just a bit off about the way he said it but Keith couldn't figure out what it was, and he watched Lance stomp exaggeratedly off in the direction of the partially-crumbled buildings.

Well, Lance acting weird over seemingly nothing wasn't exactly out of character for him. Keith put one hand back on the particle barrier and looked up at the red lion through the distortion. "I don't know what's going on here," he said. "But we're partners, right?"

To his total lack of surprise, the red lion did not respond.

* * *

Lance stood with his back to the wall, one hand covering the lower portion of his face and breathing hard. He was far enough away that Keith wouldn't be able to hear him easily, but that didn't make things any __better__. He'd felt off since before they departed the castle-ship but it was easy to ignore, there were too many things going on for him to focus on it until now.

He'd started his heat early. __Very__ early.

 _ _Fuck.__ His suppressants were on the ship. He hadn't stuck them in his pouch because he was regular, had been ever since he first presented almost two years ago, why would he have any reason to anticipate otherwise?

Keith was going to smell his heat. Lance closed his eyes and breathed out, brow furrowed, a little bit of anger building up in his chest. Omega heat cycles varied greatly depending on the individual, and when they were on suppressants it didn't much matter but those who weren't tended to synchronize to the cycle of the most fertile among them. If anything, Keith should be syncing up with __him.__

He was going to punch Keith in the mouth, his life had been a thousand percent easier last week, giant alien space lions included.

Lance didn't dare touch himself, because if he started he wouldn't be able to stop and he did not want Keith to come looking for him. Fortunately the paladin suit hid that state of affairs well, although his underwear was going to be a total loss by the time they got back to the ship. Lance focused everything on thinking about anything __other__ than that, and headed back to the lions.

Keith was still standing in front of the red lion, but now his arms were folded and he was watching for Lance. "You all right?" Keith called, and Lance became very conscious of the careful way he was moving his body.

"I'm fine," he said dismissively. "Any progress?"

"Not really." Keith looked back up at the lion, brow furrowed, and then looked back at Lance. "Are you sure you're okay? You look..." he frowned, and Lance took a step back as Keith stepped forward. "Are you sweating?"

"No," Lance lied, and put up both hands to halt Keith. "I'm fine," he said, in aggravation, then looked away. "My heat's come early, okay? I wasn't ready."

"Your..." Keith stopped, and stared at him, watched Lance shift uncomfortably without comprehension. "Don't you have those suppressants you were talking about?"

"I do, but I wasn't supposed to cycle yet!" Lance's voice rose a bit.

Keith rolled his eyes. "You should be more careful, then; if you have suppressants you should carry them with yo-"

Lance took two large steps forward and shoved Keith with both hands, which caused him to step back against the particle barrier of the red lion in surprise. There was a flare of red energy that crackled up the shield before it dissipated, but the shield held firm. "This is __your__ fault," Lance yelled.

Keith shoved Lance back without even thinking about it, the blood going hot in his veins. "It is __not__ ," he shouted back.

This time, it was part shove, part body-tackle with Lance's shoulder impacting with the top quadrant of Keith's chest plate. Keith impacted back against the shield again, off balance, but he caught his fingers under a piece of Lance's paladin suit and yanked and Lance went down on top of Keith, both of them yelping in surprise as they hit the ground, helmets claging together. Lance pinned Keith with a hand on his shoulder, eyes narrowed. "Suppressants only work if you're on a regular __cycle__ , Keith," Lance snapped. "If you hadn't presented and started broadcasting your pheremones all over the damn ship I wouldn't have ended up with an accelerated cycle!"

Keith glared up at Lance, chest heaving, and used both hands to try to shove Lance off, one knocking his helmet askew on his head, the other planted on his chest plate. "Get __off__ of me!" Keith yelled. Lance tried to push his helmet back on but instead it clattered to the ground next to them, and Keith's hand started pushing on Lance's face. "Off, get __off,"__ Keith hissed.

"Ow, ow-" Lance turned his face against Keith's hand, sweat dripping from his hair. "You are an __asshole__ -" he snarled, but Keith had stopped pushing entirely and was now just __staring__ at Lance. " _ _What!?"__

"Is that – am I smelling __you__ -?" Keith asked, eyes gone a little wide. "Holy shit, is that what __I__ smell like?"

"What?" Lance repeated, now more nonplussed than anything. "No, I'm pretty sure you smell different than I do..." They were both breathing hard, Keith pinned in the dirt underneath Lance, and Lance said, awkwardly, "Maybe I should let you up-"

The thought was completely aborted by Keith's hand sliding up the rest of Lance's face, gripping the back of his head and pulling him down. Keith was still wearing his helmet, which meant Lance's forehead bounced off the visor, and he made a small noise of pain that transitioned straight into surprise as Keith still managed to kiss him.

Lance flailed himself up as Keith made a noise of disgust, then grabbed his helmet with both hands and yanked it off as Lance wiped his hand over his mouth in shock. " _ _Keith-__ " Lance said, but this time Keith put both his hands on Lance's face and pulled him down into a proper kiss this time, surprisingly hot and heavy, and Lance had to brace his elbows on the ground to distribute his weight better.

It took a moment after they broke apart, Lance breathing heavily, for his brain to begin to reconnect with the rest of his body. He stared down at Keith in confusion. "What the hell are you __doing__?" Lance gasped, still trying to reboot his higher functions.

Keith's face had turned pink, which Lance was beginning to find endearing and was a sure sign that the apocalypse was nigh. "I owe you," Keith said, and started to turn a darker shade of the same color. "Remember?"

This really wasn't making any sense at all to Lance. "And you think that __kissing__ is gonna repay things? That's only making things __worse.__ " He shifted uncomfortably and started to push himself off of Keith, when Keith's hand landed on his hip and stayed there.

"Look," Keith said breathlessly. "I've been mostly hard since I landed, and I __know__ you're having a hard time, we should just... take care of things. There's no one around to hear us."

There was a ten-second pause as Lance's brain attempted to decrypt and translate what Keith was saying to him, because the obvious thing was just too insane for him to even begin to process. "Are you kidding?" Lance said, his voice going higher. "You want to ... __here__?" Another pause. "Are you out of your __mind?"__

Keith stared up at Lance, clearly confused by Lance's reluctance. "You... don't want to?"

Lance hesitated again, because he was wet, and horny, and he had never once been propositioned by another omega. "Not in front of the __lions__ ," he said, leaned forward just a little. "They're __watching us.__ Besides, what if the others... show up?"

"Are you __kidding me?__ " Keith almost screamed in frustration. "What do I have to do to get fucking __laid__ -"

"What about Shiro, Keith?" Lance said, and pushed himself off of Keith, sitting back on his ass in the dirt with a thud. He was so hard it was painful, and he could feel his underwear sticking to him and he __hated__ it, at least that wouldn't show through the thick material of the suit.

Keith wet lips and pushed himself up on his elbows, staring at Lance a little more than an arm's length away. "Let me deal with that," Keith said finally. "Whatever happens here can stay here, okay? You've been helping me out, I want to repay the favor."

"Yeah," Lance said, chest heaving, his eyes not straying from Keith's. "Yeah, okay. Just... not in front of the lions, all right?"

* * *

Keith really didn't have any idea what he was doing, but that was all right because he suspected that Lance had even less of a clue. For someone who talked a big game, he sure seemed startled when Keith took his hand, and led him in the direction of the most stable of the ruins. Lance was unusually quiet, and when Keith looked back at him, he had a thoughtful, distant expression on his face.

"How are we gonna," Lance started to ask as Keith pinned him against a wall and kissed him again. Honestly, he'd thought more about punching Lance than kissing him, but it was almost more effective at getting him to shut up than anything else in his arsenal. He was going to have to remember that. "Keith!"

Keith had gotten his fingers under one of the latches in the paladin suit. "Can't do anything dressed," he breathed, and Lance turned the darkest shade he'd seen yet.

"You too," he said, one hand pushing on the chest plate of Keith's uniform.

"Yeah," Keith said.

They undressed in that same, uneasy silence. He'd seen Lance naked before, in and out of the showers and in the changing room, although Lance usually screeched if he thought he'd been seen and yanked a towel or robe over himself fast. He'd even seen Lance hard, just days ago when he'd pulled his pants down and delivered an unexpected blow job in his room. But he'd not seen him like this, as he stepped out of clearly-sopping underwear, his fully-hard cock bobbing, the insides of his thighs sticky with fluid.

"You don't have to stare," Lance said, and Keith, still halfway dressed, backed him right back against the wall and fell to his knees.

It was easier to let the animal brain take over, and his animal brain told him to bury his face in that warm, damp space by the root of Lance's cock and just inhale; hands resting on Lance's hips, feeling him tremble. He smelled so __good__ , indescribable, and Lance let out a tiny whimper and an "oh, god" as Keith's hands slid back along his hips to firmly grip his ass and spread his cheeks.

"You're so __wet__ ," he said, remembering how it felt when Lance had rubbed his fingers through the slick created by his heat, so he did the same for Lance; fingers circling his entrance and then pressing in. The reaction was worth it, Lance jerked away from the wall and then fell back just as quickly, impaling himself on Keith's fingers and letting out a low moan.

Keith drew back and looked around the room, staring at the large stone table in the center. This was where he had found the emergency beacon, it was in the best-protected part of the ruins. "Go lean against the table," he said, pulling his fingers out and withdrawing. Lance nodded shakily and did so, as Keith pulled off the rest of his outfit.

He was as wet as Lance was, he could feel it now, running down down his legs. That didn't matter as much to him because Lance had put his hands on the edge of the table, leaning forward and spreading his stance and putting his ass on full display. "Like this?" he said, looking back over his shoulder shamelessly.

There was something in his expression that Keith couldn't quite narrow down. He didn't seem __opposed__ to it, but he didn't seem quite as into it as Keith expected. He put his hand on Lance's ass and squeezed, and watched as Lance closed his eyes and ducked his head. "Hey, if you don't want to do this," Keith said. "We don't have to..."

"It's all right," Lance said, eyes still closed. "Just do it, already, __please.__ "

Keith rubbed his hands over Lance's ass and spread his cheeks again, getting a good view for the first time; seeing him pink and wet and soft. Keith lowered himself slowly to his knees and, still holding Lance's cheeks apart, licked through the slick right up to his hole.

Lance did not expect __that__. He let out a surprised noise that shifted straight away into a moan, when Keith did it again. Keith really had no idea what he was doing, but by the noises Lance was making he had discovered something grand. " _ _Keith__ ," Lance moaned as Keith fingered him slowly and resumed licking, running his tongue over places that he normally would be disgusted to view, nevermind have all up in his business.

"Oh __fuck__ ," Lance gasped, head hanging down and hips jerking. Keith wasn't prepared for when he came, as his hole twitched and contracted, growing even wetter with fluid.

"Holy shit," Keith said, and drew back a little, wiping his hand across the bottom of his chin.

"Yeah..." Lance's face wasn't visible, and Keith rubbed little circles with his thumbs into the twitching muscle of Lance's thighs.

"Hey, Lance," Keith said. "Turn around."

"I don't want to," Lance said, head still hanging low. "If you're gonna do it, do it from behind."

There was a long moment of silence, and Lance's ears were red. Keith got up slowly from his knees, feeling his own legs weak, how hard and heavy his cock was. He put his hand on Lance's shoulder, and finally Lance turned his face toward him, eyes red and blotchy. "I'm not __crying,__ " Lance snarled before Keith could open his mouth, and scrubbed his hand over his eyes and looked away.

He stood in silence as Lance did turn around, standing more upright, leaned against the table and arms folded over his chest. "It's nothing, all right?" Lance said finally, still not looking at him. "I want to do this."

"I'm not an idiot," Keith said."Don't treat me like one."

Lance still didn't look at him. "This was a bad idea."

"It was one of the alphas in the garrison, wasn't it." Keith's voice went low. Lance actually flinched a little at the words, and Keith hissed out a breath between his teeth. "Who was it?"

"It doesn't __matter__ ," Lance yelled, suddenly. His words echoed in the dead air. He seemed startled himself, and closed his eyes. "It doesn't matter, Keith. I don't want to talk about it."

Keith put his hand on Lance's shoulder, and Lance didn't flinch from this contact. "All right," he said. "But if you want to... you know." Lance nodded his head, and opened his eyes.

"Thanks, Keith," he said.

"Don't mention it," Keith said dryly. "I guess we should get back."

Lance looked down at Keith. "But you haven't even gotten off yet."

"I'll live." Keith started to move away, but Lance caught his wrist.

He inhaled slowly, as if steadying his nerves, and said calmly, "that's not fair at all. I should get you off at least once." That said, he hiked himself up, carefully, onto the table and spread his legs wide. Then he leaned back a bit and raised his eyebrow and did his best to look sultry and Keith just stared at him.

"You can _ _not__ be serious," he said.

"C'mon, man. Weren't you just complaining about wanting to get laid?"

"Not like __this__ ," he said. "Lance, you were just-" Keith gestured with one hand, then sighed.

"Free pass. What happens here stays here, isn't that what you said?" Lance wrapped one hand loosely around his own cock and stroked it slowly. "When are you gonna get another opportunity like this?"

Keith let out a low noise and hiked himself up on the table next to Lance. This surprised him a little, but not as much as Keith throwing his leg over Lance's lap. Lance went over and hit his shoulders into the rough table top. "Do you trust me?" Keith asked, hands flat on either side of Lance's head.

"Dude, don't make me answer shit like that," Lance said. Keith didn't say another word, just stared down at him and Lance looked away for a moment, then looked back. "Fine, __yes__ , of course I do, idiot," he said.

"Good," Keith leaned in and kissed him, before Lance could remember where his mouth last was. Lance's hand came up and gripped Keith's side, and even as his brain caught up with him Keith oriented himself over Lance's lap, sliding his hand back to meet Lance's on Lance's cock.

"Keith," Lance said breathlessly. "What are you – __Keith-__ "

Keith didn't say anything else because he was too focused on what he was doing, making certain things were all lined up correctly and ordering himself to not freak out. He was relaxed, and slick, and as the head of Lance's cock slipped in effortlessly, Keith let out a low, satisfied groan.

"Holy __shit__ ," Lance said, his eyes wide; and his hands clasped on to Keith's thighs like they were drawn there by magnets. " _ _Fuck__..."

Yeah, Keith could definitely agree with that.


	9. Chapter 9

Pidge leaned back in the navigator's seat and stretched her arms above her head, cracking her back and her neck in succession. The weather pattern program she had written blinked lines of code at her, and the schematic of the nameless planet below rotated, half-finished on the desktop. A small alert tone drew her eyes to the globe, and she saw that the cloud cover above the northern continent was beginning to thin.

" _ _Finally,__ " Pidge said, and pushed her glasses up her nose. She started typing quickly, bringing up the ship's systems to start a slow thermal scan.

Because the clouds had not totally dissipated, they wouldn't be able to beam any two-way transmissions through to the lions; but a heat signature would point them in the right direction to go planetside and retrieve Lance and Keith, if they hadn't killed each other first. That was, Pidge assumed, if they were together ... it was equally possible that Lance had fallen into a ditch somewhere, and Keith was waiting on orders.

The door to the bridge whispered aside, and Hunk appeared, carrying a covered tray. "I brought dinner!" he said cheerfully, and Pidge gestured to the space somewhere on her left hand side, as if there were a table or ledge present to leave the offering of food. Hunk blinked down at her, noticing the alert on the screen. "Did you find them?" he asked, excited. "Should I call the others?"

"The clouds thinned enough to start a proper heat scan," Pidge said. "Might as well tell everyone else, by the time they get here it should be done."

Hunk carefully set the tray on the floor beside Pidge's seat. "I'll be right back," he said, and vanished off the bridge. Pidge looked down at the tray, and shifted in her seat just enough to nudge the covered plate with her foot. She didn't reason Hunk would bring her food cooked by Coran, because they all wanted to live, but it didn't hurt to check, first.

* * *

Keith flopped back against the rough surface of the table, both hands covering his face and panting loudly in the still air. He felt Lance shift, and then one of Lance's hands caught his wrist and tugged and pulled his palm away from his face. Keith tried not to look at Lance's face, he was clearly concerned but his cock was still in Keith's ass and that was really all Keith had the capacity to concentrate on at the moment.

"You okay?" Lance asked, and Keith gathered his thoughts enough to nod, slowly. Lance grinned - no, he __smirked__ and Keith thought about how bad an idea this was, but only for a moment because Lance moved again and scattered his thoughts as easy as breathing.

It didn't take as long this time, Keith's legs tucked over Lance's hips as he stood at the edge of the table, moving slowly and steadily until Keith let out a choked noise and grabbed for Lance. He'd lost count, now, but he was sure Lance had too, but this time when Lance pulled out with an obscene squishing noise he didn't immediately plunge back in and make Keith nearly sob.

Lance stood between Keith's legs, chest heaving and eyes wide as he stared down at Keith. "Holy shit," he said softly, and ran his hand over Keith's belly, tacky with fluid from all the times he'd come.

"Yeah," Keith said, and meant to prop himself up on his elbows but found he really didn't have the strength so he stayed down and rubbed his hand over his eyes. "Don't take that as an indication of skill or anything, okay? You __clearly__ need some form of instruction in this."

"Whatever, man," Lance said, and rubbed his shoulder. "I'm not the one who was scratching up peoples' backs and __moaning__ -" He let out a long, satisfied sigh, and ran his hand down his cock, which was still half-hard. "I could probably go again, if you wanted..."

He was surprised at himself that he even considered it. "We should check on the lions," Keith said, but didn't move.

"The lions will be there," Lance said and leaned forward, over Keith.

"Yeah, okay," Keith said because he didn't really need to be convinced. He caught Lance's shoulder and pulled him down into a kiss as Lance spread his legs again and slowly, slowly, pushed in.

* * *

"This is concerning," Allura said, arms folded as she looked up at the heat signatures on the screen. Pidge's thermal scan had completed just as quickly as she had predicted, and by the time Allura and Shiro had returned to the bridge Pidge had brought up a display that showed two dull, fading heat signatures – the red and blue lion, parked side by side.

Their thermal profile was fading because they'd been inactive for a while, but all the same it was brighter than the surface of the empty, desolate world. "There are the lions, but ... where are the paladins?"

Pidge zoomed in on the lions. "If they're in the lions, maybe the scanner can't get a read on them," she suggested, but didn't sound convinced by that.

"If they were in their lions," Shiro said firmly, "they would have come back to the ship."

Pidge conceded that point with a small nod. She zoomed the image as much as she was able, and Hunk said suddenly, "what's __that?__ "

"What's what?" Allura asked, and Pidge stopped adjusting the screen.

"Back out a little further, Pidge," Hunk said. "I think I saw one of them."

"Really?" Pidge said, and backed out the image a bit. Hunk was staring at the far corner of the screen, and when Pidge zoomed out enough he jabbed his finger in the air at the image. "There! There's one of them!"

"Good eye, Hunk," Allura said. "There's one, but where's the o-" As she was speaking, the small blobby form shifted and detached and became two smaller blobby forms – but then went right back to one. "Oh,"Allura said. "What ... what __are__ they doing like that?"

There was a strained silence.

"Well," Pidge said. "Hunk, you owe me fifty bucks."

"That's," Hunk said, then turned pink.

"Pidge, did you get the coordinates?" Shiro asked, attempting to keep everyone on track. "Can you send them to the black lion? I'll go get them."

"Yeah," Pidge said, and typed quickly. "They've been sent." Shiro nodded once, and then with a last glance to the screen, turned and hurried off the bridge.

"I don't understand," Allura said. The blobby form had not disengaged back into two parts. "The surface of the world is not __that__ cool, why would th..." Allura trailed off as she reached the same unspoken conclusion. "Oh. Oh __my.__ "

"I'm going to shut down the thermal imaging," Pidge announced, fingers on the keyboard.

Allura looked back at her, brow furrowed in concern. "Why?"

Pidge typed a few keystrokes and returned the viewscreen to the planet schematic, although there was a red pin in it marking the location of the stranded lions. "Because Shiro is gonna go into a rut when he smells them both and I, for one, don't really want to see that."

"That's ridiculous," Allura said. "Shiro has more self-control than that."

"Normally I'd agree with you," Pidge said. "But Keith's in heat, and I don't know if you've reviewed the training room tapes from the last few nights, but..." she shrugged. "It's been a close call." She looked around the bridge, surprised at Hunk's lack of reaction. "Hey," she said. "Where'd Hunk go?"


	10. Chapter 10

Shiro was just getting ready to leave the ready room when Hunk arrived. He stood in the doorway, one hand on the doorframe and only slightly winded after dashing down the long corridors of the ship in his pursuit. "Shiro," Hunk said, punctuated by heaving breaths. " _ _Wait.__ "

"Hunk?" Shiro said, his helmet held in both hands. "What is it?"

"You can't go," Hunk said, firmly, having caught his breath. He straightened in the doorway and looked resolute. Shiro just looked at him silently, waiting for elaboration, and Hunk felt himself get a little angry, as if he didn't know what any objection might be to his retrieving of two wayward paladins. "Shiro, Keith's in __heat__ ," he emphasized.

At that, Shiro did look away, for just a moment, then back to Hunk. "I can control myself," Shiro said coolly. "I appreciate your concern, but I can deal with an omega in heat."

"It's not __you__ I'm worried about," Hunk said, and then gestured and stepped into the paladin's ready room. "Well, it __is__ , but not __just__ you."

Shiro grew quiet and looked at Hunk. "Lance has already been in heat once since we've been here," he said. "Nothing happened then."

"Lance is on suppressants."

"I can still __smell him__ , Hunk." Shiro said, and then turned a faint shade of pink and looked away. "Nothing will happen. I can promise you that."

"No you can't," Hunk said. "I've seen alphas go into a rut before, Shiro; no you __can't.__ " He inhaled and said, "I'll go."

It felt like a whole lot longer than the few seconds it took for Shiro to consider this and nod once. "All right," he said. "You go." Shiro pulled on his helmet to access the communicator. "Pidge, transmit those coordinates to the yellow lion. Hunk is going planetside, I'm going to stay in low orbit as backup."

"Roger that," Pidge's voice said.

Hunk nearly jumped when Shiro put his hand on Hunk's shoulder as he passed. "Lance is lucky to have a friend like you looking out for him," Shiro said, and exited the ready room. Hunk let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and grabbed his own helmet. They couldn't afford to waste any more time.

* * *

Lance said, with a wrinkled nose; "this is __disgusting.__ "

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't think to pack fucking __wet wipes__ or something," Keith said, seated gingerly on the ground and pulling on his boots. "I'll sure remember to keep those in my ready kit from now on. Or maybe condoms." He shifted uncomfortably on the ground and ignored the way that Lance turned pink.

"Where the hell are you going to get condoms in space? Are we gonna stop by the space mini-mart on our way to... wherever the hell we're going next?" Lance wriggled in place a little, and said, "I sure hope these suits are self-cleaning."

"Cool it. I brought some with me." Keith started to try to get up and stopped and frowned. Lance took a step forward and extended his hand, intending to help Keith to his feet but Keith just stared at the outstretched hand as if he didn't know what Lance was trying to do, then hauled himself to his feet without assistance.

"You. __You__ brought condoms." Lance couldn't fathom this at all, and put both of his hands on his hips, leaning slightly forward. "Hoping to get some space booty?"

"Will you stop using 'space' as a descriptor?" Keith said, blushing an equivalent shade of pink. "You sound like an idiot."

"Oh my god, it's to bang Shiro, isn't it. You brought condoms so you could ride Shiro like a horse-"

"Shut __up__ ," Keith yelled, and shoved Lance, who had started laughing. "You are such an __asshole__." Keith started to stomp toward the door, but his stride was weirdly exaggerated which only made Lance laugh harder. " _ _Dick!__ "

"Do you need a piggyback ride? I can give you a piggyback ri-OW!" Lance stepped out of range before Keith could kick him again.

"I am going to kick your ass later," Keith muttered.

"Hey," Lance said suddenly. Keith ignored him and made a point of refusing to be anywhere near Lance, walking with one hand against the wall and forcing himself to at least attempt a normal gait. "Keith, do you hear that?"

"You mean the fact that you won't shut up? Yeah, I hear that."

"No, __that__." Lance gestured helplessly around and Keith finally stopped - and he could hear it too, very faint but growing steadily closer.

"Those are engines," Keith said. "Someone's coming!" He stopped leaning on the wall immediately, running toward the exit of the ruin, Lance right behind him. By the time they exited into the street, they both could see the small dot in the sky growing larger by the second.

Without a word they ran back toward the lions, Lance looking up at the sky periodically. "Hey, that's Hunk!" he said, as the now-obvious yellow lion did a low sweep of the city. They made it to where the blue and red lions were still sitting parked, but Hunk did not land.

"Lance, Keith?" Hunk's voice came through the external communicator system of the lion, but not the headsets built into their helmets. "Are you guys still naked? I'm not looking, I'm not-"

"We're not naked, Hunk, jeez!" Lance yelled at the lion. "Don't flying that thing with your eyes closed!"

"Oh, good," Hunk said. "Are you okay? Why haven't you come back to the ship yet?"

Lance and Keith looked at each other. "Keith's lion threw a fit and locked him out," Lance yelled, and he looked at Keith and grinned. Keith shoved him with one hand.

"Oh." Hunk hovered the lion for another moment, before setting it down on the other side of Keith's lion. "Okay, that's kinda weird."

"Tell me about it," Keith said.

"Lance, can you still get to the blue lion?"

"Easily." Lance walked over to the blue lion and put his hand on the particle barrier. Then he walked straight through, as the barrier evaporated around him. He turned around and waved at Keith, who rolled his eyes; then he blew a kiss and Keith turned visibly red under his visor.

Keith walked over to his lion and took a deep breath. "C'mon girl," he said softly, and put his hand on the barrier, and pushed.

The barrier evaporated, much like the blue lion's had.

Keith stood there with his jaw slack, unable to process what had just occurred. "Are you __kidding__ me?" he said, finally, as Lance hooted from under his own lion.

"I don't know what's going on here," Hunk said. "But we need to get back to the ship."

"Yeah," Lance said. "I'm going to take like, three showers. At the same time."

"That isn't even __possible__ ," Hunk said.

"It sounds like a considerable waste of water," Keith said, and Lance rolled his eyes and groaned.

* * *

Once out of the atmosphere, all systems came back online fully. "Keith, Lance," Shiro said from the black lion, hanging in orbit. "Glad to see you could join us."

Lance very much ignored the weird little tickle that shivered down his spine at the way Shiro said his name. "We would have been back sooner if Keith hadn't gotten into a fight with a semi-sentient red lion," he said, at the same time he heard Keith say, "Sorry, Shiro."

On board the castle-ship, Lance pulled off his helmet and shuddered. "Hitting the showers," he said as he left his helmet on the table – and was stopped by Hunk entering the room, followed by Shiro. Hunk wrinkled his nose at Lance.

"You __stink__ ," Hunk said, waving a hand in front of his face. "And not even, like that weekend you decided not to use deodorant, like you're really _ _rank__ , Lance."

"Thank you," Lance said, now ignoring the look that Shiro was giving him, because it was one thing to hear Shiro say his name, but quite another to be stared at like that with only Hunk as a barrier between them.

"That's not a compliment!"

Keith entered from behind Lance, and – well, having been apart even for just a short while to fly the lions back to the ship meant that Lance could now smell exactly how appetizing Keith was. He blushed just a bit, but thankfully both Hunk and Shiro's attentions had been drawn by Keith's entrance.

"Oh god," Hunk said, and pinched his nose shut. "Keith smells even __worse.__ Fuck this, I'm leaving. Shiro?"

Keith raised his arm and sniffed. "I don't smell anything," he said, and looked at Lance, then realized Lance was very much staring at him and looked away. "But I need to hit the showers anyway."

"Keith," Shiro said, and inclined his head. "A word?"

Lance had been most of the way out the door – giving Shiro a wide berth for the moment – and he hesitated, and looked back at Keith. Keith looked from Shiro, to Lance – and then nodded. "I'll be just a minute," he told Lance, who nodded his head and, after lingering a few seconds more, headed out the door to the showers, leaving Keith and Shiro alone together in the ready room.


	11. Chapter 11

There was absolutely nothing better than standing under the hot, steady spray of a shower head when you were really, __really__ in need of a shower. Lance closed his eyes and tilted his head back and sighed luxuriously, before scrubbing both of his hands through his short hair and ducking his head through the spray again.

Okay, there __was__ one better thing, and he was going to have to hunt down Coran and ask if there were any baths anywhere on this ship. A nice long soak in hot water was a fantastic relaxer for sore muscles, although Lance figured if anything Keith would need that more than he would.

Lance felt his face heat despite himself, and he ducked his face into the spray again and rubbed sudsy water through his hair. He wasn't going to open, consider, nor even __think__ a moment on that. They were leaving __that__ on the dusty, dead planet and going about their business of being rivals who only occasionally got along. In fact, if he had to wager a guess at anything, Keith was probably on his knees sucking Shiro's dick right now.

Face back into the water, because he wasn't dealing with the way that thought curled and settled in his gut, cold and hard and black. There was nothing to deal __with__ , there was nothing to be jealous __of__. Keith had been pretty vocally clear about his pursuit of Shiro, and even before his heat had started he would make eyes at the pilot of the black lion without even realizing it. That had always been the way things were meant to go, after all.

Lance slammed the palm of his hand into the divider between the stalls, hard enough to make it wobble a little, and then started rinsing his hair in the spray. He had other things to do, like think up all the ways he could drag Keith over dinner for the fact that the red lion kicked its paladin out because he needed to get fucking __laid__ without expressly saying as much.

Wait.

Hunk had known.

 _ _Shiro__ had known.

Well, Shiro would have been able to smell it on them anyway but there was no way he could have know __before__ they got back to the castle-ship? Was there...?

Lance slammed the shower off and grabbed his robe off the hook outside the stall. He intended to run but then slid on one heel on the slick tile and settled for walking quickly toward the exit, because the last thing he needed was to give himself a concussion. He had to find Hunk.

* * *

Shiro stood, with his back mostly toward Keith and his arms folded as Keith got changed. The emergency beacon, now deactivated, sat on the table in the middle of the room. "I don't understand why you didn't just come back to the ship," Shiro said, eyes averted respectfully, face gone pink under his scar.

"Red wouldn't let me back in," Keith said simply. He took the deactivated emergency beacon out of the pouch on his belt and set it on the table, before shrugging on a robe to wear to the showers. "We handled it."

Shiro's head tilted at the 'we.' "I guess I should just be grateful that things works out," he said finally. "I'm ... glad, that you and Lance seem to be getting along better."

"Shiro," Keith said softly, and he watched as Shiro squared his shoulders before turning around. It wasn't as pungent now, but it was still there, the scent of desire rolling off Shiro in almost visible waves. Keith watched Shiro wet his lips and felt his entire body tense up, even though Shiro was not raising his eyes to Keith's. "Look at me."

There was a moment where the balance of power in the room seemed to shift, and Keith felt his heartbeat speed up as Shiro met his eyes. They were both breathing harder than they should be, just standing in a room together, and after a moment of direct eye contact Shiro crossed the room to him.

Keith did not move at all when Shiro touched him – settled his hands gently on Keith's shoulders, and tilted his head in. He didn't touch Keith's face, although their foreheads brushed, and then Shiro was burying his face between Keith's neck and shoulder, breath hot along the flesh exposed by the loose collar of the robe.

"You smell like Lance," Shiro said, and didn't lift his head. "And sex."

Keith touched Shiro tentatively, settling his hands on Shiro's hips, wanting to pull him closer. "That's what happens when you have sex," he said, wondering if it was possible for his heart to just beat completely out of his chest.

Shiro went still, but Keith did not shift his grip, curling his fingers in the fabric of Shiro's clothes, squeezing tight. "Are you jealous?" he said, not entirely sure what emotion it was that was rattling around behind his lungs.

" _ _Yes.__ " Shiro's voice was muffled by it's position against Keith's neck. He kissed the skin there slowly, the points of his teeth dragging delicately down to Keith's collarbone. "I want to mark you," Shiro said. "I want..."

"Then mark me," Keith gasped, and tilted his head back. His knees had gone to jelly with Shiro's mouth on him, and he didn't know how much longer he could stay upright.

"I want to __claim__ you," Shiro said, and Keith let out a whine. Shiro kept kissing down the open collar and as Keith leaned back and away Shiro fell to his knees. Keith shuddered as Shiro tugged open the belt of the robe, he was wearing nothing underneath it, prepared for the shower he obviously wasn't getting to.

"Claim me," Keith said, __begged.__ Shiro's mouth went lower still, toward the center of the heat pooling in Keith's belly, and when his breath ghosted over the tip of Keith's cock a noise even higher-pitched than the last escaped Keith's throat.

This was really __happening.__

Keith covered his mouth with the back of his hand, stifling any further vocalizations, his other going to Shiro's hair, brushing his fingers through the short, soft cut. Shiro wasn't looking up at him, instead investigating the length of Keith, licking and nuzzling and scenting, coaxing out Keith's scent from the mingled musk.

Shiro was breathing hard, and Keith could smell him now, his scent strong as his arousal. An alpha, primed and ready... and it was making him go wet again; uncomfortable after having Lance inside him. "Shiro," Keith said, around his hand, as Shiro licked him again.

He didn't have to ask, or direct – and he didn't want to think about how Shiro knew this already; how to swallow him down so perfectly, like he was made to take Keith's cock in his mouth; how to keep him stimulated, how to draw it out so that Keith didn't immediately shoot off down his throat.

By the end of it Keith had doubled over, both hands trying to find purchase in the tight fabric stretched over Shiro's back and shoulders. The moan escaped louder than he expected, but that was okay because then he was coming, hips jerking against Shiro's face as he swallowed Keith down, swallowed him all.

Keith didn't move for a few long moments, body trembling in the aftermath. He felt himself slide out of Shiro's mouth, Shiro's breath on the soft skin of his thigh as Shiro kissed him delicately there. Shiro smelled so, so __good__ , Keith could barely stay upright, he wanted to fall to the floor and just spread his legs right now, let Shiro claim him as he was meant to. " _ _Shiro__ ," Keith said, his voice shaky.

He couldn't see Shiro's face like this, but he felt the deep, shuddering breath that he took. "You should shower," Shiro said.

Keith made a small, confused noise as Shiro gently moved, which forced him to straighten. "Shiro?" Keith said again, because the only syllables he could process right now were the ones in Shiro's name. Shiro brushed Keith's sweat-tacky hair aside and kissed his forehead gently.

"Allura wants to speak to both you and Lance," he said. "Take a shower. Eat. Wash..." he trailed off, and Keith could feel the words he didn't say. _ _Wash Lance's scent off you.__

"But-" Keith said, as Shiro stepped away.

"I have to go," Shiro said, and wouldn't look at him. Keith watched him leaved, stunned and still turned on, and then let out a loud groan of disappointment, pushing a palm back through his hair.

" _ _Hell__ ," Keith snarled, mostly to himself.

* * *

The doors to the ready room closed behind Shiro, and he leaned back against the wall, chest heaving. He drew a shaking hand over his mouth, but there was nothing there to wipe away, he'd swallowed it all down before he could even recognize what he was doing.

 _ _Keith's face; his voice... his scent, but not just his scent, was it...__

He was so hard it __hurt__ , he'd never been so turned on. Shiro let out a low groan and rubbed his hand over his face. His life had just gotten _ _exceptionally__ more difficult.


	12. Chapter 12

The suppressant pills did their job, Lance reasoned, feeling more than a little better after having taken one. He hadn't felt the urge to knock over and climb on anyone since they got back to the ship, and he'd actually made it through an entire shower without touching himself once, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

(Especially with an alpha on board.)

He really wasn't interested in examining what any of that meant, because now he had to deal with the fact that __everyone knew__ what he and Keith had been up to; and while it was indeed a small crew, the thought of Pidge or Allura looking at him and __knowing__ was messing with his head. After too many awkward conversations in too short a time Lance retreated to his room to maybe sleep and hope that when he woke in the morning it was to another crisis so he didn't have to think about this one any longer.

The door to his quarters swished closed and he turned on the overhead light, prepared to get into his pajamas. Keith sat up in the bed and squinted angrily at the overhead light, and then turned to glare at Lance, who had frozen in place, jacket half off.

"What? Aren't you going to turn down the light? That florescence is harsh."

Lance regained control of his vocal capabilities after a long moment. "What the __fuck__ are you doing in my bed?" he said.

Keith shrugged and flopped back over onto his side, pulling the covers of __Lance's bunk__ up over his shoulder again, his back to Lance and the door. "Comfy," Keith muttered, as Lance still stood there, frozen in place.

"'Comfy?'" Lance repeated, voice escalating despite himself. "You have your __own__ bed, Keith!"

"Yeah, and I like yours." Keith rolled and sat back up again; Lance realized that his hair was still damp from the showers. "Is there a problem?"

"Damn straight there's a problem! It's __my__ bed!" Lance stomped over to the bunk, his shoes kicked off and made to reach for Keith - but hesitated, when he got close. He rested both of his hands on the mattress and stared at Keith, who was a little bit pink. "I can smell Shiro on you," Lance said quietly.

Keith looked away.

Lance straightened, and exhaled. "Good," he said dismissively. "It's what you wanted, right?"

Keith still didn't look at Lance. He closed his eyes and sighed, then nodded his head once. "Yeah," he said.

Lance put his hands on his hips and nodded. "Then why the __fuck__ haven't you crawled into __his__ bed?"

"I don't __know__ ," Keith said suddenly, in frustration. "I feel safe here, all right? It's comfortable and warm and it smells like you and I feel __safe__ , is that what you want to hear?" He rubbed his hands up and down his arms and still refused to look at Lance. "I don't want to be alone. Again."

There was a long moment, and then Lance let out an aggravated noise and sat heavily on the edge of the mattress, arms folded over his chest. "I don't get __any__ of this," he said angrily. "I don't get __you__ , Keith."

"Sorry I'm so difficult," Keith muttered sourly.

"No you're not," Lance snorted in return.

"Don't tell me how I feel about something!"

Lance rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, then leaned back on his hands and looked at Keith. "Are you in love with me?" he asked, most facetiously. He immediately regretted that course of action when Keith instantly turned beet-red and refused to look him in the face any more. "What! No __way__."

"I'm __not__!" Keith said, staring at the plain white wall cast into grey by the shadow of the bunk.

"You just turned red! You're __totally__ in love with me."

"It's an embarrassing thing to be asked, dick!" Keith leaned forward and shoved at Lance's shoulder, but it didn't connect quite right and his hand slipped off of Lance's shoulder and landed on the mattress beside Lance's hand. They were both too close to each other, Lance's surprised face by Keith's.

Keith clearly couldn't help it, he wet his lips as he was staring at Lance.

" _ _Dude__ ," Lance said. "Shiro, remember? Big burly leader dude who you've been hopelessly in love with since ... before all this...?" he gestured with one hand, but didn't move from their uncomfortably close position, nor look away. "Guy you just had sex with?"

"I didn't have sex with Shiro," Keith said. "I've only done that with you."

Lance turned pink and finally looked away. "Well you should," he said quickly. "Get yourself bonded to an alpha, and you'll get your brain back."

"And what about you?" Keith asked quietly, and Lance shrugged exaggeratedly, still not looking at Keith.

"I haven't lost __my__ head," Lance said. He moved to get up and Keith caught his shoulder and pulled, and Lance gave off a surprised yelp as he fell back onto the bed and was pulled entirely down, his head narrowly missing banging on Keith's knee. " _ _Keith!__ "

Then Keith was leaning over him, both hands resting softly on Lance's face. "Keith, what are you __doing?__ "

Keith tilted forward over him, hair falling down around his face, and softly kissed Lance. Lance closed his eyes to the kiss, his hands reaching up to Keith to keep him there. Despite all the anger and hurt and confusion that seemed to keep bubbling up in his chest this felt good, and right, and Lance let out a little moan when he realized.

"I want both," Keith said against his mouth, and Lance didn't have to ask what he meant by that. "Can't I have both?"

* * *

It was the middle of the ship's night cycle. Lance lay awake in his bed, curled on his side, and unable to sleep. He could feel Keith's warmth behind him - he was sleeping on his back, mouth open and snoring softly on each exhale. His body temperature didn't seem nearly as hot as it had been, and Lance knew his heat must be waning by now. The worst of the hormones had passed.

And he was still in Lance's bed.

Lance fully expected Keith to spring awake when he slipped out from under the covers, but he didn't. He did shift a little, rolling onto his side and reaching a hand out to where Lance had been, but his breathing didn't change a bit. Lance shrugged on his robe as he watched Keith settle back down, and then found his slippers so that he wasn't padding around the ship barefoot.

It was eeriely quiet out in the hall, the only sound the soft hum of the ship's processes. Lance held his robe closed and walked with purpose, his slippers muffling his footsteps.

The bridge was dark, the lights dimmed to sleep mode, but the forward viewscreen was active. It showed the brown curve of the planet below them, the soft fuzz of its atmosphere distorting the light, but above that an expanse of black filled to the brim with stars.

He knew by now how to activate the star map; but this time Lance didn't. He walked past the controls and stood in front of the viewscreen, looking up at the unknown stars, nameless points of light arranged in unfamiliar constellations. The expanse of space was so vast it was a little humbling, even for him. Lance snorted to himself, quietly amused, and then sat down n the floor of the bridge, head still craned up to watch the rotation of the stars as they sat in orbit around the dying planet.

If his head ever got too busy, there were always the stars. The great canvas of night painted with pinpricks of light, stretched far above his head and reflecting on the ocean; clouds nothing but a distant memory. It was so calm and peaceful, and he missed it.

The flash of something on the viewscreen caught his wandering mind, and Lance rubbed one eye, sleepy and certain he was hallucinating. The orbit of the castle ship locked it the same distance away from the wreckage of the ancient Galra ship; its dark mass and debris cloud nothing more than a soft dark blur on the edge of the screen.

Except – Lance had just seen something light up, in the midst of the wreckage.

He had to have been imagining it. Lance rubbed his eyes with his hand, sitting forward. Pidge had scanned the wreckage twice, there were no active systems and no life forms; whatever battle had taken place here long ago that was all that remained. But as he watched, the same light lit up – soft amber, then blinked out. The color was far too distinct to be light from the system's distant sun catching on debris, it glowed, it wasn't a reflection.

Lance stood up, waited for the light to glow again. It was a longer interval this time – then it glowed, and went out.

It didn't light up again. Lance swallowed, and wondered if he should wake everyone. He waited for the light to glow again but it didn't, and he sat back down. Maybe it was just a fluke, he reasoned with himself.

The fourth time it lit, nearly an hour later, Lance was leaned back against the console pole, arms folded over his chest and head nodded forward, asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Lance was having a very nice dream about cheeseburgers. Well, to be entirely accurate it was about the little no-name burger shack by the beach that made the hands-down __best__ bacon and avocado burger he had ever had, mouth-wateringly good and he missed them __so much,__ when his dream was very rudely interrupted by a finger poking his cheek.

He batted at the finger and tried in vain to hold on to his dream, but it was already fragmented and gone. Lance let out a loud aggrieved sigh and opened his eyes, only to find that Coran was way __entirely__ too close in his personal space, face barely a hand's span away from Lance's own and finger out prepared to poke him again. Lance blinked once, slowly - and then screamed.

Coran wheeled back in surprise, and Lance threw both of his hands out to shove the Altean away - and that action caused him to flail back at the same time and crack his head into the support column he had been sleeping against. Lance leaned forward, both hands folded over his head and nursing his poor, aching cranium. "Why would you __do__ that?" he moaned.

"The bridge is __not__ the proper place for a sleepover!" Coran annouced as he straightened, hands on his hips.

"I'm not having a __sleepover__ ," Lance yelled as he lifted his head, only to realize that Coran was not the only person on the bridge. In fact, it seemed like everyone was present - Pidge in her favorite claimed spot, the navigator's chair; Hunk and Keith standing behind her and Shiro standing beside Allura with his arms folded. " _ _Ugh__ ," Lance said and rubbed his hands over his face. "What __time__ is it?"

"You missed breakfast," Hunk called cheerfully, and Lance groaned. Then, abruptly, he remembered and flailed himself into an upright position, almost smacking the still-lingering Coran in the face with his hands.

"Has anyone else seen it?" Lance said to no one in particular, staring at the viewscreen.

"Uh," Pidge said, after a moment. "Seen ... what, Lance?"

"The light in the Galra ship!" Lance jabbed his finger at the forward viewscreen, and the dark mass of the wreck in the lower corner, a fixed distance away. "There was some glowing yellow light in there last night!"

With his back to everyone, Lance couldn't see the particular glances being exchanged, but the even longer moment of silence made him turn around, one arm still pointing at the wreck. " _ _No one else saw it?"__

"We've scanned the wreck half a dozen times by now," Allura said firmly. "There are no operational systems, and definitely no lifeforms. You must have simply dreamt it."

"I didn't dream it!" Lance said. He marched over to the viewscreen and jammed his finger in the approximate location of the light, to the best of his memory. "It was right here, it was yellow and it blinked a few times and went out!"

"Kind of like your brain," Keith muttered loud enough for Lance to hear.

Allura and Shiro exchanged looks, and Pidge leaned forward. "While there probably isn't anything operational," Pidge said, "I __did__ want to check out the wreck before we left."

"Wait," Hunk said. "You're saying you __want__ to visit a burned-out space-tomb?"

Pidge looked back at Hunk, as Lance and Keith said, at the same time, "Space-tomb?"

"Well, yeah," Hunk said, his eyes wide. "It's a burned-out wreck, right? It didn't get that way without a battle, and yeah the Galra have all those drones and robots but there would have been people on that ship too, so..." he covered the lower portion of his face with both hands, eyes still very wide. "Space tomb," he said in a high voice.

"What if there are space __zombies__ ," Lance said.

"Enough," Shiro said, his voice firm over Hunk's very loud whimper at the thought of __space zombies__. "Pidge, you're certain there aren't any operational systems on that wreck?"

Pidge immediately turned her attention to her console. "All the scans came back completely negative, and nothing seems to be..." she broke off and typed something else. "Hm."

Lance came around from in front of the viewscreen and parked himself in front of Pidge. "Hm?" Lance said. "Hm's not good. Or is it good? I guess it _ _could__ be go-"

"Shut up, Lance," Pidge said.

"Did you find something?" Keith asked.

"I'm not sure." Pidge stopped typing for a moment. "Last night there was ... I don't want to call it a transmission because that wouldn't be accurate, but __something__ came from the direction of the wreck. A few short bursts of something."

"See," Lance said. "I __did__ see lights."

Shiro inclined his head and looked over at Allura. "What do you think, Princess: Should we check it out?"

Coran, from his station, recalibrated the viewscreen to orient on the wreckage itself and not the edge of the planet. Floating locked in its eternal orbit, a dark mass against the reddish-brown backdrop of the planet below, the wreck looked wrong, like a blank spot in the canvas. "Yes," Allura said as she stared at the form on the screen. "Any information we can gain on what has happened in the last ten thousand years would be valuable." She nodded her head decisively. "Team Voltron must investigate!"

Hunk said, loudly, "I'll stay here."

Keith patted his arm. "She said __team__ , Hunk."

"I just don't do very well with ghosts." Hunk said as Keith steered him toward the door without looking at Shiro once.

Lance got up to follow them off the bridge, when Shiro said, "Lance? A word."

"Ooh," Pidge said as she ducked through the lift doors behind Hunk and Keith, right before they closed. "Someone's in __trouble.__ "

"A word?" Lance said, stopping abruptly. "You know what a great word is? Defenestrate. It sounds like it's __so__ much dirtier _ _-__ "

" _ _Lance.__ "

He stopped and raised both eyebrows as he looked at Shiro. Allura had covered her mouth with one hand and looked away, as if she was willing herself not to smile.

Shiro sighed, and unfolded his arms, planting his hands on his hips. "Will you and Keith be all right?"

There was a moment of sheer panic that overtook him – was Shiro actually asking about ... __that__ , in front of Allura, and Coran...? Whatever __that__ was that had passed between them over the last few days that Lance still hadn't had time to figure out, Keith in his bed and touching him and looking at him with entirely different eyes... Somehow, miracle of miracles Lance's voice didn't jump, or squeak, or break when he asked, "what is __that__ supposed to mean?"

Shiro looked away and actually turned a little pink. "You're ... both in heat, right?"

And oh, this was worse. Lance turned red. "I've taken my suppressants, and Keith should be almost off his."

"I can still smell when you're on your suppressants." Shiro was still not looking at him, still pink in the face.

"I __really__ didn't need to know that," Lance said. "Is that all? You just wanted to make sure me and Keith didn't start dry humping a piece of debris while wandering around, right?"

Now Shiro looked at him. "That's not what I meant at all-"

"Lance," Allura said. "That's uncalled for."

"No, it's exactly what he meant." Lance's face was still pink, but it had moved from a flush of embarrassment to one of anger. "He thinks that omegas can't help themselves and will just start fucking anything that they can while they're in heat. Just like an __alpha__."

"Considering the way you two behaved yesterday," Shiro said, anger building in his voice. "It's not at all out of the realm of possibility and it is something I __do__ have to worry about."

"The only one throwing themselves at anything is Keith, throwing himself at __you__ ," Lance yelled, taking a step closer. Shiro actually __growled__ , and the blood that was already thudding hot through Lance's veins spiked when Shiro grabbed him by the front of his pajamas and yanked him forward.

" _ _Stop it!__ "

Allura's hands between them, one on Shiro's shoulder and the other on Lance's chest, shoving them apart with more power than Lance expected to feel. She placed herself bodily between them, her back mostly to Lance. "This is unacceptable behavior from paladins of Voltron, you both need to cool down immediately!"

Shiro turned away, his chest heaving, arms crossed again. He closed his eyes and a pained expression crossed his face. "I'm sorry, Lance," he said, but didn't lift his head to look past Allura at Lance.

He was dizzy and sick to his stomach and his heart was beating so loud he could barely hear Shiro speak again, or Allura as she turned to look at Lance again, her brow creased in worry. "Lance?" she asked, as he took a step back, almost stumbling over himself as he fled to the lift.

The last thing he saw as the doors to the elevator closed was Allura with her hand on Shiro's arm, but her concerned expression was directed to Lance, standing in the elevator with one hand braced against the wall and shaking.

* * *

Keith touched the wall plate outside of Lance's room, and the doors whisked open, unlocked. "Lance?" he said tentatively, into the dim room. The only lights came from along the wall, they glowed the same faint blue as their armor during the castle-ship's day cycle, and from that came enough light to see Lance sitting on the bunk, curled into a small, tight ball, a pillow clutched between his chest and his knees.

He'd left Hunk and Pidge in the ready room, waiting to board their lions and get going, and when Shiro entered, followed by Allura and still no Lance it made Keith's heart plummet. "Are you all right?" he asked into the dim room, which was a stupid question to ask, because if Lance was okay he wouldn't be hiding in the dark.

"I'm okay." His voice sounded normal, at least. Keith stood in the open doorway, hesitant. He'd woken up in this very room not very long ago, comfortable and surrounded by Lance's scent, even if Lance was no longer in the bed with him he felt warm, and safe. Keith stepped in the door and touched the wall plate, so that the door did not close behind him again.

He might not be the best and reading situations, but even Keith could tell the lie from the truth here. "You're not okay," he said, standing awkwardly.

"Then why the hell did you __ask?__ " Lance hissed, and now there was a break in his voice. Keith could hear Lance breathing quickly, and then catching his breath and trying to force it to normal again.

"Do you want to...?" Keith trailed off. He wasn't good at talking about it.

Lance answered right away though, a sharp " _ _no__ " that cut through the room like a knife.

Keith sat down on the edge of the bunk, close to Lance, but not too close. "I'm here," he offered. Lance shuffled a little and scooted to the edge of the bed to sit beside Keith, and it was still too dark to properly see Lance's face. He saw Lance set down the pillow Keith had slept on last night, then put his hands on his knees and hung his head. "We can't form Voltron without you," Keith added, and Lance let out a sharp, pained laugh.

Tentatively, Keith put his hand over Lance's on his knee. Lance inhaled once, held the breath deep and then leaned suddenly into Keith, the side of his head connecting solidly with Keith's shoulder. "If you tell anyone I was crying I'll hate you forever," Lance said.

"You already hate me," Keith said, concerned.

Lance let out another laugh, this one low and not quite as sharp-edged or bitter. "Yeah," he said, and rubbed the sleeve of his pajamas over his eyes. "Guess I do."


	14. Chapter 14

When Lance settled into the pilot's chair of the blue lion and opened the communications channel, there was already a lively stream of chatter between the other members. "Hey, guys," Lance said as he joined the group.

"Glad to see you finally joined us, Lance," Shiro's voice said. Lance momentarily caught his breath and swallowed the hesitation down; Shiro's voice had been normal; warm and welcoming and not ... __that__.

"Yeah," Keith's voice from the red lion. "You'll never guess where I found him."

"Keith!" Lance said.

"He was fighting with the mice for the breakfast scraps," Keith continued, as if Lance hadn't said a work.

"You promised you wouldn't tell," Lance whined, exhaling in relief as the others laughed. "I was __hungry.__ "

"Oh!" Hunk said. "I know you missed breakfast, Lance, I brought some snacks for you!"

"Hunk," Lance said with a sigh. "How, exactly, are you going to get those snacks to me?"

"Oh. I didn't think about that."

"Guys," Shiro said, as Lance's blue lion joined the others outside the castle ship. "Bring it in. We're going to do one quick sweep of the wreckage and see what we turn up." Affirmations came through the line from the others, as the five lions crossed to the ancient, silent ship.

"Whoa," Lance said as the dark ship grew large in his front display. The Galra ships they'd already encountered had been massive; some in fact bigger than this. But those had been active ships, glowing with lights and activity and brimming with danger. This was just a mass of darkness and silence, a foreign object that didn't belong, locked in eternal orbit with the planet below. It was eerie, and he was beginning to think that Hunk was right to call it a 'space-tomb.'

"Still no activity," Pidge said. "No life-signs, no systems activity."

"What about short-burst transmissions?" Keith asked.

"Haven't seen any of those since we launched," Pidge said. "We were too far to get a proper fix on them before, and without any new transmissions I can't determine what part of the ship they came from." The green lion landed on the outside of the ship, along a swath of undamaged hull near the huge, gaping wound shot through its side.

"She's going to say 'the only way to find it is to board the ship,'" Hunk said.

There was a pause, and then Pidge said, "since Hunk said it, I guess I don't have to."

"I __knew__ it."

"I don't like this," Keith said. The red lion went under the ship, dodging gracefully through the minefield of debris. "Something feels off about the entire situation."

"I agree," Shiro said. "Hunk, you and Keith stay out here, keep an eye on things. Lance, you and I will accompany Pidge."

Lance swallowed hard as he watched the black lion land not far from the green lion. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather take Keith? After all I have a long-range weapon-"

"So do I," Hunk said cheerfully, oblivious to Lance's discomfort.

"Thank you, Hunk," Lance muttered. There was a soft click on the radio channel, and a private feed was pushed through to Lance's helmet, not the open channel of communication between all the paladins, or even the video chat.

"Go," Keith's voice in his ear, and Lance felt his stomach flutter. He turned pink under his visor, thankful that at least at that moment, no one could see him. "I trust Shiro. You did, too."

Lance had already pushed the blue lion into a descent toward the side of the ship where the other two lions were currently locked, magnetized, to the outer hull. He __did__ trust Shiro, and he knew he did, but it was Keith's voice in his ear that moved him forward ... and __that__ was something he was really going to have to examine.

He had a lot of things to think about, later.

* * *

Keith closed the private radio channel and exhaled, sitting back in his seat. He watched the blue lion arc away from where Hunk's yellow lion was floating in space, heading toward the side of the Galra ship where Pidge and Shiro were already waiting for him. He knew Lance just needed the nudge.

On the left side of his screen, Hunk's face popped up, a direct communication line. Keith glanced over at it, and saw that Hunk's expression was concerned. "Is Lance okay?" Hunk asked. Keith stared blankly at him, and Hunk continued, "I mean, is he okay-okay? I know Lance isn't __okay__ , but is he okay-okay?" Hunk wiggled a hand in the air and, at Keith's still somewhat-blank expression, sighed.

"I don't think Lance is okay at all," Keith said, and Hunk stopped and gaped at him.

"You let him _ _go__ and you don't think he's okay!?"

"It's not ideal." Keith's hands curled into fists resting on top of the controls of the lion. This wasn't a new feeling; but it was new toward Lance and he didn't like the pall of helplessness it cast over him. He couldn't protect Lance, just like he couldn't protect Shiro - all he could do was keep training himself so that he could stand alongside them. "But that's the way it has to be."

Hunk was quiet for a long moment, the visor of his helmet covering his eyes. Keith couldn't interpret the expression on his face. "If you let him get hurt..." Hunk said in a tone Keith had never heard before.

"I won't," Keith said, and flipped off the video chat, cutting the communication between the red and yellow lions and leaving only the open voice channel. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, and swore he could feel the systems of the red lion surge in time with his heartbeat. Keith closed his eyes and breathed deep. He would find his center again.

* * *

Lance popped the canopy on the small speeder and then immediately gripped the edges as he floated out. The atmosphere of the ship was compromised, there was no artifical gravity, and Lance hung on to the canopy for a moment until Pidge came around from her speeder.

"How are you walking?" Lance said, a little too loudly.

"The boots have electromagnets," Pidge said. "Activates from the same area as the rockets on your back."

Oh. That made sense. Lance proceeded to activate the magnets in his boots from his floating position several feet in the air, and then slammed feet-first into the ground with enough force that he felt it through the paladin armor. " _ _Ow,__ " Lance seethed, as Pidge stood there, typing into the input field on her suit.

"You should be more careful," she said without looking up.

Shiro came around the same way Pidge had, using a quick burst from the shoulder-mounted rockets to move quickly and then activating his boots so he didn't overshoot into open space. "Got a lock on anything, Pidge?" he asked.

"Not really." She looked up finally, and then all the way up, where they could see many of the ships levels burned directly through. "But I've got an approximate idea of where to start, at least."

"Tell me you don't want to search this entire ship," Lance said with a groan.

"Given the proper time and resources, I would love to," Pidge said.

"Two things of which we have little to spare," Shiro inclined his head. "Where are we headed?"

"Either the brig, or the armory," Pidge said.

Even without looking at Shiro, Lance could feel the flinch. "Maybe we should start with the armory," he suggested. "Maybe we'll find some awesome Galra weapons we can bring back as souvenirs."

"Don't bring back souvenirs," Hunk's voice said in his ear. "It'll have some wicked Galra general's ghost attached to it, and it will creep around the ship slowly killing us all in horrible, horrible ways."

"Or maybe just Lance," Keith's voice said dryly. "It would serve him right for looting a space-tomb."

"It's not __looting__ ," Lance protested, and Shiro sighed but there was clearly a smile tugging at his mouth behind the visor.

"Stop calling it a space-tomb," he ordered. He glanced to Lance. "No looting," he emphasized, and Lance threw his hands in the air in a full-body WTF measure.

Pidge said, abruptly, "guys?"

Lance stepped closer and rested his arm on her helmet. "What is it?" he asked, and Pidge shoved his arm right off.

"I don't know," Pidge said. She stared at the display projecting over her arm, and then typed again before looking at Shiro, who was watching her closely as well. "I think Keith is right," she said. "Something's definitely weird here."

"We'll be extra cautious, then," Shiro said, and gestured for Pidge to start them off. "Lead the way."


	15. Chapter 15

The cavernous hallways of the Galra ship were dark, and filled with small bits of loose debris. Given the enclosed nature of the halls, they maneuvered with the rockets on their back and only walked when needed, as it was slower progress on foot.

Pidge went first, her tracker displaying in cool green above the left forearm of her paladin armor. She was concentrated on that far more than on where she was going, which meant Lance had to grab her by the shoulder at least twice to avoid running directly into walls and closed doors.

He had his bayard in hand, prepared for trouble ... although he wasn't entire certain what good it would do, if the nature of the trouble fell beyond 'marauding aliens and/or tech gone bad.' All the same it felt more comfortable to have a weapon in his hand than not, especially traveling directly behind Pidge, who was paying less attention to that and more attention to the slow schematic being draw by their movements.

"You know," he said as Pidge stopped before a large set of doors. "I've seen horror movies that start like this."

"Yeah?" Shiro said from behind him, bringing up the rear. "So have I. What's your point?"

Lance scowled. "My point is, there's a possibility of face-sucking aliens behind every door."

"Highly unlikely," Pidge said. "Besides, even if that were the case, I doubt they would be able to survive in a vacuum." She typed a few more keystrokes and gestured to Shiro, who moved forward to put his hand against the scanner plate. As he did so, his hand and arm glowed purple with the Galra's energy, enough to power the systems and allow the door to slide open.

Lance and Pidge barely had any time to react as two large, dark figures lunged out of the open door. Shiro yanked his hand off the plate, but Lance was faster, bayard in hand, and the transformed bayard-gun lit the entire corridor as he blasted one of the figures directly through the chest. That caught it and spun it, and the form thumped helplessly against the wall on Lance's other side. The one he hadn't shot hit the wall hard and bounced, and then continued to float lifelessly.

"I heard shots," Keith said through the open communication. "You guys okay?"

"We're fine," Shiro said, as Lance pointed his weapon at the other form, but the body hung suspended in the zero gravity. "Just found some of the ship's former crew."

"Space zombies!?" Hunk gasped.

"No, just bodies," Shiro said. Pidge was still rooted in spot, and Lance still had his weapon in both hands. They both were breathing hard – Shiro clapped Pidge on the shoulder, and she looked up at him, then back down to her schematic. "This is the armory."

The room was not as large as Lance expected, although it was filled with rows of unfamiliar weaponry lining both walls. Pidge let out a disappointed noise as she surveyed the area. Most of the weapons were bolted down and secured, so there wasn't a lot of free-floating materials. "Doesn't look like anything's here," she said, boots to the floor.

"Just a few dead Galrans," Lance agreed, and shuddered. He relaxed the death-grip he had on the plasma gun and pointed its muzzle down at the floor as well. "Now what? To the brig?"

He could hear Shiro take a deep breath before voicing his assent. "To the brig. Right, Pidge?"

Pidge had floated to the center of the room, where a lot of dark items hung suspended. She passed a beam of light over them, checking for things of interest. "Hm," she said, and then, "what? Oh, yeah – the brig. We'll head there in a minute."

"What did you find?" Shiro asked, as she put a few things in her pouch.

"Hey, no looting!" Lance said.

"It's not looting if it's for scientific research," Pidge said. "Right, Shiro?"

"Well I want one of the guns. For research."

"Guys," Shiro said. Pidge shrugged her shoulders and kicked off the floor, floating back through the door and, still grumbling, Lance followed.

* * *

"Hey, that looks like a training room." Lance said, stopping and catching on the edge of one open blast door. Pidge stopped and looked back at him, peering into the cavernous darkness. They had looped back around, headed toward the brig, and the training room was situated in a position that left it partially decimated by the blast that had destroyed the ship. From the far edge of the room glowed starlight, and beyond that it was lit by the system's sun, reflecting off the atmosphere of the planet below.

And in the center of the room, a strange pillar with runes scrawled over it. The top was not level, but carved into what looked like the tip of a paintbrush, curled and styled. "Whoa," Lance said, still floating as he held onto the edge of the blast door with one hand. "What is __that__ , that doesn't look like anything I've seen before."

Pidge heard Shiro's intake of breath as he caught up with them and looked into the training room as well. "Doesn't really matter,"she said. "Unless that pillar is the source of light, or the origin of the transmissions-"

Lance ignored her, kicking off into the training room. "Lance!" Shiro said, and attempted to grab him by the back of his armor. He moved too slow, and Lance floated into the room, plasma rifle still held in both hands as he approached the pillar, mesmerized. "Shit," Shiro said suddenly, and kicked into the room after him. Pidge blinked in surprise and entered the compromised training room last.

The pillar was larger than first thought, it dwarfed Lance considerably as he stood in front of it, rifle shifted to one hand. It was at least twice his height. Shiro activated the magnets in his boots and stopped just behind Lance. "Lance," he said again, intending to sound severe but instead there was an edge of panic to his voice.

"It lit up," Lance said, voice full of wonder. Pidge looked to the pillar in alarm, and sure enough a faint yellow light shot up and around, starting at the base of the pillar and ending at the paintbrush-like-tip ... which, when lit, resembled a flame. "This is it, this has to be it, I bet you can see it from the ship!" He touched his helmet with one hand. "Did anyone else see the light?" he asked.

Pidge said, "that's not possible. There are no active systems onboard the ship, and that thing's not __alive__. It's not picking up on any of my scanners, how is it doing that?"

"Druid magic," Shiro said, in a pained voice. "It's druid magic, we don't want to mess with that. Lance, get away from it-"

Lance ignored Shiro again and stepped forward, one hand out to touch the pillar. " _ _Lance__ ," Shiro barked, and grabbed him by the shoulder, even as Lance's palm touched the pillar. It sparked a brighter color, amber-gold, originating from where Lance's hand touched the pillar and causing the light to burn ever brighter for one moment.

Then the light went from swirling around the pillar to enveloping Lance and Shiro, a yellow so bright Pidge had to squint and look away. "Lance, Shiro!" Pidge yelled, throwing up one hand to block the light; when it faded and she dropped her arm, the other two paladins were gone as if they had never existed.

"What," Pidge said, remarkably calm, "the actual __fuck."__


	16. Chapter 16

Allura leaned in toward the view screen, squinting closely at the runes that marked the now-darkened obelisk. "I don't recognize that writing," she said to Pidge, who stood close to the device. "It's not any I'm familiar with."

"It's not Galra writing?" Keith asked, standing beside Pidge. He had his arms folded and all his attention on the pillar, as if waiting for a new attack, or for it to spit back out his friends. He wanted deeply to lean in and touch it, it almost felt like it was __calling__ to him to do so, but he kept his arms folded and his attention on the conversation because he could do little good from the other side of ... whatever this thing was.

"No. Or, if it is it's a very obscure dialect," Allura said. "The pillar itself doesn't even look Galran in its construction."

"Shiro said it had druid magic," Pidge said. "Druids are Galran, right?"

"Yes, but that does not discount the idea that its construct is foreign in nature, and somehow co-opted and corrupted by the Galra forces."

Keith's hands were curled into tight fists under his folded arms. "I wonder what would happen if we destroyed it," he said grimly, thinking about the weight of his bayard-sword in his hand.

"Whoa there," Pidge said. "No destroying artifacts until we get our teammates back, Keith."

"Yeah, that's a great way to get Lance and Shiro stranded where ever it sent them," Hunk said from the yellow lion, still left outside the ship, on guard. Keith let out a grunt but didn't shift or move his position. "So ... what do we do now?"

"Good question," Pidge said. "Allura, what do you think?"

She sighed over the communicator. "I'm not sure what I think. Perhaps you three should return to the ship, and we'll plan what to do next."

"I'm not leaving," Keith said, eyes never drifting from the obelisk. Pidge hesitated and looked at him, then looked at the small picture of Allura that was projected from the forearm of her armor and gave a little half-shrug.

"Keith," Allura said, and Keith cut her off.

"I'm not going __anywhere__ ," he said, the undercurrent of emotion heavy in his voice.

Allura sighed again over the communications channel. She could very easily have ordered them all back to the castle but didn't. "Your paladin suits only have a limited usage time out of atmosphere," she said. "Please be careful, Keith."

"I'll stay too," Pidge said. "I can do more investigating here than from on board the castle-ship."

Hunk let out a loud groan. "If they're staying, I should stay too," he said, sounding a little mournful but at the same time, determined.

Keith didn't really hear the discussion. He was too focused on the obelisk, and its strange yet familiar script. He kept his arms folded and stared at it and thought, with single-minded focus; __I'm not going to lose them both.__

* * *

Waking up from being knock unconscious was a trip. Lance blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling above his head and thought for a moment about how much his head hurt. It was a splitting agony, and he could barely focus on anything at all except for the pain. It was enough that he almost closed his eyes and went back to sleep, except for some random memory of how bad it was to sleep with a concussion and having to keep a cousin awake after he'd gotten one playing soccer years ago. Lance struggled to the surface of his mind, fighting against the pain and opened his eyes again to that unfamiliar ceiling, before slowly but surely hauling himself into a seated position.

He wasn't alone.

It was a holding cell of some kind; open on one side, and with actual, physical bars that ran from the ceiling to the floor. Lance rubbed his face with his hand as he looked at the half-dozen aliens around him, species unfamiliar and only one even vaguely humanoid. "Where am I?" he asked one pink alien who stood on four legs and had an additional two arms, who seemed to be looking directly at him. The alien waved its antennae but didn't seem to acknowledge Lance's question at all. He tapped his arm to bring up his communications to ee if that would tell him anything; but while he was definitely still wearing his paladin suit, none of its external systems seemed to be operational.

No comm. No distress beacon. No __scanners.__ Lance sat forward on the bunk and swung his legs over the edge. "Hey," he said, addressing the pink alien again, a little angrily this time. "Where is this? Did you see the other guy I was with, tall, broad-" Lance spread his hands apart in a generous description of Shiro's shoulders, "scar on his face?" He'd almost said that Shiro was the black paladin, but did not want to give it away ... if whoever had them captured was friendly with Galra (or Galra themselves), he didn't want to knowingly deliver themselves up.

There was a commotion from outside the cell, and the other occupants of the cell all plastered themselves along the bars, murmuring among themselves in a variety of languages that were beyond Lance's comprehension. The suits had a built-in language translator, but that only worked if the suit's computer systems were up and running, and given the lack of everything else, he really wasn't surprised. Lance hauled himself to his feet, and moved to the edge of the cell to see what the ruckus was about.

As he did so, Lance realized that, for the most part, he was taller than most of the aliens in his cell. At least he wouldn't have any trouble seeing what was going on, although two blue aliens that were more torso than lower body made room for Lance to press up against the bars as well. Lance leaned forward as much as he could, and first saw the distinctive purple fur and purple armor of the Galra. Oh. __That__ was definitely not good. Lance started to move back, out of sight – when he realized that the two Galra guards were dragging someone bodily between them and Lance slammed into the bars of the cell, gripping the bars tightly.

 _ _"Shiro!__ "

It __was__ Shiro. He wasn't wearing his paladin armor – instead that jumpsuit and rags he had been wearing when Lance first saw him; head lolled to one side and barely conscious as he was manhandled down the hall. "Shiro!" Lance called again and yanked at the bars of the cell, but they held firm. He turned and slammed his shoulder into them, hoping for a dent, or some kind of distraction, but the Galra didn't even look at the cell Lance was in; opening the one across the hall, and shoving Shiro through. Lance watched as Shiro staggered a few steps under his own power and then collapsed to the floor, curling into a ball, his back to the cell.

Then, as he watched, the image shimmered just a moment, and he could see Shiro, curled on his side, in the paladin armor, before the image was replaced to the one Lance had originally seen.

"What..." Lance said, both hands gripping the bars of the cell again. The aliens around him were still murmuring and chattering in a multitude of foreign languages, but Lance could ignore all that easily, because he was staring at Shiro.

He pressed his helmet to the bars and squeezed his eyes closed. Then he turned his head and looked as far up the hallway in either direction and shrugged. If half his suit's systems were inoperable, chances were good his bayard wouldn't do a lot of damage either, but he wouldn't know until he tried, so Lance took a step back and released his bayard, which then proceeded to transform into his rifle.

"All right," Lance said. "I don't know what the hell is going on here, but this is a jailbreak." He pointed the plasma gun at the bars where he was standing, and pulled the trigger.

The gun did not fire.

 _ _"Quiznak,__ " Lance said. He moved back to the bars and put one hand on them, staring at Shiro from across the hallway. He hadn't moved, back to them, one hand up and holding his right shoulder and the only indication that he was still alive was his chest rising and falling rapidly. "Hang on, Shiro," Lance said, as if Shiro could hear and acknowledge him. "I'll get you out of here."

Now he just had to figure out __how.__


	17. Chapter 17

"Hey," Lance said, leaned against the bars of the holding cell. "Hey, you. Purple face." He waved his hand through the bars at the two passing Galran guards – actual organic people, not those soldier-drones they had seen so much of already. "Your mother was a diseased bat!" Just like the last time they had passed by, the two guards seemed unaffected by Lance's words, although this time he won a small victory of the closest guard glancing in his direction.

The drones walked by every twenty minutes or so, roughly, on a looping patrol of the holding area. There was very little foot traffic otherwise, which had explained the excited reaction from the others in the cell with Lance when the Galrans had dragged Shiro down the hall. Maybe once an hour two of the purple-furred Galrans would patrol the halls personally, never really looking at the cells, just straight ahead as they walked.

Lance's original plan had been to cause enough of a commotion that one of the soldiers would come investigate, but so far they seemed immune to his taunting; but at least they seemed to be __hearing__ him. With the way the other prisoners were reacting Lance thought for a while he was properly invisible. After observation, though, most of the aliens huddled up with like; or at least with those who could understand them. And with Lance's universal translator broken, not a one of them seemed to understand him at all.

He stared out the bars across the hallway to the other open cell, where Shiro hadn't moved since they brought him in. He still lay on his side, his back to the open bars of his cell, and the only movement that Lance could see was the occasional rise and fall of his chest as he breathed slowly. Lance rested his helmet against the bars and closed his eyes to try to think.

This wasn't getting him anywhere. Sooner or later someone would notice that they'd captured not just Shiro but another Voltron paladin and then they would have Zarkon all up in their business and he'd __really__ be screwed. Lance banged his helmet against the bars and listened to the reverb with his eyes closed. It was a stroke of luck, no matter how small, that the Galra ship they'd been transported to was apparently so backwater that they didn't recognize the paladin armor. He had to capitalize on that.

He looked back around at the cell itself. The walls were mostly smooth – some parts were scored where prisoners of the past had gone mad, clawing, biting and doing other things to the surface, but never gouging enough from the walls to be useful. The bars extended directly from the ceiling into the floor, no holding or casing, and there was no lock to try to pick or force ... when a soldier came by to open it he did so by pressing a wall plate and the bars receded into the ceiling or floor.

Lance leaned his shoulder against the bars and pulled out his bayard again. In the dim light of the prison cell even the edge did not glow its brilliant blue, but instead stayed a muted color, as if signifying its low-power status. Lance groan and knocked it against the bars, then on a whim turned it and stuck it through the bars, pulling its sharper edge against the metal to see if it would do any damage. The noise was ungodly, several of the aliens nearest to Lance winced and clapped appendages over auditory processing holes, grumbling angrily in Lance's direction.

He wasn't really paying attention to the reaction, because he was staring at the bayard, recovering its bright blue color.

Lance withdrew the bayard back into the cell and watched the color fade out, and then stuck it back between the bars and watched it refill with color. He almost laughed. "A weapons jammer," he said in amazement. The cells had some form of jamming system which was messing with hsi suit, but the protections didn't extend to the hall where the Galra or their soldier drones might be called upon to discharge their own weapons. Plus, he was willing to bet prisoners were searched anyway so no one expected them to even have a knife, never mind a full-on plasma gun.

"All right then," Lance said as he transformed the bayard into a plasma rifle. It was awkward to hold through the bars, and he didn't have a whole lot of range or aiming capacity, but the fun was getting ready to properly start. "Jailbreak: 2.0!"

* * *

The sounds came from far away, muffled like they were pushed through water. Shiro ignored them, like he had been ignoring much of everything around him. The pain was the thing foremost on his mind, crippling in its intensity, the nerve endings of his right arm burning fresh with the new connections. It was too easy to get lost in it, and Shiro kept his grip tight around his arm, the seam of flesh and foreign metal fresh.

But ... it wasn't fresh, was it?

Shiro did not raise his head nor open his eyes, cheek pressed to the cool tile floor. His thoughts were scattered and it was hard to bring them into line, because they were neither coherent or linear, just a jumbled mash of sensations. He squeezed down hard on his arm, hoping that the shock of fresh pain would bright him further out of the past and into the present, and as he did so he heard his cell block open, all the way.

" _ _No more__ ," Shiro croaked, eyes still squeezed closed.

"Shiro!" the voice was unfamiliar-familiar, and fell in line with the mix of memories that didn't make sense, that existed outside of the witch and her chambers. He didn't have the strength to push himself up yet but he did open his eyes as he felt a soft hand touch his left shoulder. "Shiro, I'm here."

"...Keith?" No, the voice was all wrong. He felt the hand withdraw for a second then touch him again, just as gentle.

"No, Shiro. It's me, Lance."

Shiro squinted up at a person kneeling beside him. The armor and the face was familiar, Lance, yes – it was Lance. He knew Lance. Lance had a large plasma rifle held against his hip, muzzle pointed out toward the cell door, his hand on Shiro's shoulder. "Here's the point where I make a joke about damsels in distress," Lance said. "Except you're not a damsel and you're __really__ in distress, so it's a stupid joke anyway." He put pressure on Shiro's shoulder, and Shiro realized dimly that he was squeezing it. "Do you think you can stand? An entire ship's worth of drone soldiers is about to make our lives very, very difficult."

Standing seemed like such a foreign concept to Shiro he couldn't even vocalize it. Before he could say no, he wasn't able to stand, Lance was pulling on his left arm, yanking him slowly upright. Sitting up the world spun and tilted sideways, and Lance caught him by his right arm, which sent a violent jolt of pain through freshly-built nerve sensors, and Shiro screamed in pain, left hand going to the seam and doubling over so much his forehead was almost touching the floor.

Lance released him and jerked back at the noise, and Shiro panted raggedly, cradling his arm. "Go without me," Shiro said, eyes closed again, slumped forward.

"Yeah, that's not happening," Lance said, and grabbed Shiro by the left arm, yanking him upright and trying to pull him to his feet, Shiro's arm pulled over his shoulder. "Do you have any idea what Keith will do to me if I leave you behind? It's scarier than whatever the Galra are cooking up, let me tell you." He staggered quite a bit once he got upright, because Shiro was anything but light. "C'mon, then."

Shiro raised his head and squinted, right arm dangling limp at his side as Lance slowly maneuvered them to the cell's exit. Across the hall, he saw an empty cell door, blown to smithereens, and a few destroyed drones scattered into pieces in the hallway. "Yeah," Lance said. "The entire population of that cell is going to make a lot of trouble for the drones, and gives us time to get out of here."

"But," Shiro said, head hanging again because he barely had the strength to do one of these things. "The prisoners need to escape..."

"They'll be fine," Lance said, and pulled Shiro down the hall in one direction. "After all, this isn't real, is it?" He kept looking forward. "We're in your memory."

Shiro's entire body shuddered, and Lance kept moving forward, supporting Shiro with as much of his body as he could. "Yeah," Lance said softly at that response. "That's what I thought."


	18. Chapter 18

"It looks like a Vertruian memory core," Coran reported, leaning forward above the display console. "At least, superficially. There are many structural differences, and I'm unsure of the significance of the upper portion made to look like a flame-"

"Great," Keith said, still standing in front of the obelisk, hands now on his hips.

"What's a Vertruian memory core?" Hunk asked from over the comm.

"The Vertruians were a race of warrior-scholars," Allura's voice said. "They utilized memory cores to explore all outcomes of a situation, by reliving it over and over. However, their civilization, like many others before them, were destroyed by Zarkon and their technology stolen for his own use."

"Okay," Keith said. "So how do we get Lance and Shiro __out__ of the memory core?"

"That's where things get difficult," Allura said. "We're uncertain how this core has been constructed; it's clearly modeled from Vertruian's systems, but a goodly portion of the writing inscribed is Galran in origin."

"Okay," Pidge said. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the obelisk, arms folded. "So how did the Vertruians get out? It's likely something similar."

"Thank you, Pidge," Allura said, a touch of annoyance slipping through the line. "I was just getting to that. Given that the Vertruians were destroyed thousands of years ago, their records are incomplete at best. We have no information on how people are released from its thrall."

"That's it," Keith said angrily, and stepped forward, hand out.

"Keith!" Pidge said, scrambling to her feet as Keith slapped his hand over the carved runes on the pillar.

Keith lifted his hand, then touched the pillar again. He smacked it with his hands open, flat, over the runes. "What," he said angrily, "the __hell.__ " He looked over at Pidge, who had put one hand out as if to stop him, then dropped her arm. "What did Lance do different!?"

"I don't know," she said. "Don't DO that, Keith!"

Keith slapped both his hands on the pillar again, then leaned forward and rested his helmet against it. "Perhaps you should come back to the ship," Allura said. "Eat. Rest a little."

"I'm staying," Keith said without lifting his head from the obelisk.

Pidge sighed and rested her hands on her hips. "Looks like we're gonna be here awhile," she said. "Maybe we should look at trying to move the memory core to the castle-ship?"

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Hunk said. "Clearly it doesn't run off of any electrical or ship systems, so it would just be a matter of finding how deeply set it is into the floor of the room and removing it."

Pidge nodded to herself. "Hunk, could you come down to the ship for me and take a look? Also, you might want to watch out in the main corridor; there are some bodies floating around."

"DEAD bodies?"

" _ _Hunk.__ "

"Okay, okay, I'm coming."

* * *

Shiro hissed out a pained breath when he pressed the palm of his right hand to the hand print lock outside the door. Lance was still under his left arm, supporting him as well he could, but the pressure against his palm sent electric shock tracing through the false nerves of his artificial hand. His __Galran__ hand.

The door hissed aside and presented them with an empty cabin, some kind of guard's quarters. Lance had shifted forward, the muzzle of his plasma rifle pointed directly in the room in case they surprised someone, but luck was on their side and they hurried through, the door automatically closing and locking behind them. Once inside and away from the repeating siren of a prisoner escape, Lance relaxed slightly, and helped Shiro to one of the chairs left lose around a table.

"Okay," Lance said, still standing. " _ _Now__ what?"

"Now we wait to get captured again," Shiro said, propping his face against his left hand, elbow on the table as his right arm dangled.

"...what? __No__ ," Lance said. "No, that's a __terrible__ plan."

"It's not a plan," Shiro said, palm pressed to his face. "This is – I __remember__ this. I remember escaping my cell, and they catch me and take me back-" a shudder ran down his back and he didn't complete the thought, instead turning his face into his hand and closing his eyes.

"Yeah, remember what I just said about that being a terrible plan? That's a __terrible__ plan, and we're not doing that."

Shiro lifted his head and looked at Lance, who was standing there still, watching him with some concern. "This is – I don't know how it is you're here, Lance, this is what __happened__..."

"I don't know what's going on here either," Lance said gamely, "but so what if it happened that way? I'm here now, things are going to go __different.__ We're going to get you off this ship. What was your original plan?"

"I kept fouling up," Shiro said, and slowly lifted his right arm. "This was slowing me down, because it was new and it __hurt__." He winced a little at raising his arm, and then sighed and dropped it again. He'd been through this before. He'd been through pain __worse__ , when they attached it that first time, to his nerves and sinew. The pain still dragged at him, weakening him considerably and providing a constant distraction. "I intended to get to a pod and try to get away."

"Okay," Lance said. "Get to a pod. That's a do-able goal." He took a step backward, his back to the door as he listened intently to the number of pounding footsteps. "It's a goal we should probably get working on sooner rather than later, because I'm willing to bet they've already secured the exit routes."

"Yes," Shiro said, despair in his voice. "They'll start a door-to-door check soon. Then we'll be discovered, like I was, in the library."

"Shiro," Lance said firmly, and Shiro lifted his face from his hand and looked up at Lance, surprised. "This might be your memory, but you're a paladin of Voltron now. __And__ you've got me with you." He hefted his plasma rifle. "They're not going to be expecting us; and we're getting __off__ this ship."

Shiro stared at Lance. __The door to the library bursting open, several Galrans and too many drone soldiers to count, dragging him by both arms as he nearly sobbed in agony, straight back to her quarters...__ Shiro covered his face with both hands, ignored the pain, elbows planted on the table. "I don't know if I can," he said, still shaking.

Carefully, Lance placed his plasma rifle on the table. "Shiro," he said softly, and touched Shiro's left shoulder with his hand. When Shiro didn't jerk his body away at the touch, Lance leaned a bit into him. "This is properly horrible," he said. "And I can't change what happened, but ... we've got a chance to stop it from happening __again.__ " He squeezed Shiro's shoulder and felt him go just a little still, under Lance's hand. "I __will__ get you off this ship."

They both heard the heavy boot steps go running past, then slow up and return to the door where they were hiding. Shiro tensed up, but Lance reached forward and grabbed his plasma rifle. "You've forgotten, things are already different," he said. Shiro lifted his face from his hands, to look at Lance as he arranged himself, muzzle of his rifle pointed directly at the door. "This isn't the library," Lance said, and the door whisked aside.


	19. Chapter 19

When Lance got shot, it came as a total surprise.

They had made it through the hallway – Lance took point, with the weapon, although Shiro seemed to have mustered up something, and was using his Galran prosthetic arm to fight despite the obvious agony he was in. Lance leaned back against the bulkhead, panting openly, a path of destruction carved behind them through Galran drone-soldiers.

"Which way to the pods?" Lance asked, as Shiro leaned against the wall beside him, sweat running down his face under the visor of his helmet.

Shiro shook his head once and then gestured vaguely a direction with his left arm. He was doing his level best not to cradle his right against his chest, trying clearly to fight through the pain. "Right," Lance said. "Got it."

He stepped away from the wall to sweep with his weapon when the plasma bolt spun him and he dropped.

It was sudden and surprisingly painless, he was upright one moment and the next he was on his back and staring at the ceiling, stunned, his own weapon fallen from his hands and slid away on the floor. Then the pain hit, lighting up his left side in sheer, surprised agony. "Lance!" Shiro yelled, but Lance couldn't see him at the moment, the only thing existing was the pain.

He heard the return plasma fire even as he clamped his hands down on his side and they came away tacky with burnt flesh and blood. The fact that he'd been shot was so bizarre, what they were experiencing wasn't __real__ ; this was a memory, and Lance had been treating it as such... he hissed as Shiro dropped to one knee beside him, holding Lance's bayard in one hand.

"They shot me," Lance said, voice gone high with surprise and pain.

"Hold on," Shiro said, pushing Lance's hands aside. "It's just a graze, the armor took most of it."

" _ _Just__ -" Lance gasped, as Shiro peeled aside the part of his suit that was sticking to the wound.

"The plasma bolt cauterizes, it's that hot," Shiro said. "You won't bleed out."

"Goody," Lance said, as Shiro grabbed him by his right arm and started to pull him upright. "Oh, no," Lance said and then bit down on the way his body screamed in agony as the fresh wound was jostled and stretched. "Nope," he said again as Shiro sat him upright against the wall. "Just leave me with the bayard," he said. "The pods are down that way, right? It's just a memory, I'll be fine, we need to get you off this ship."

Shiro said, very plainly, "No."

"Shiro," Lance hissed, as the bayard returned to its shape as a plasma rifle. " _ _Go__. I'll hold them off, let me be cool for once, okay?"

"This isn't a video game with a reset button," Shiro said, gripping Lance's right arm and firmly hauling him to his feet. Lance gave out a strangled yell and almost went down again, but this time it was Shiro supporting him. "We're getting out of this together," he added.

Lance sagged against Shiro, breathing raggedly. "Anyone ever tell you you're really difficult?" he asked Shiro, as they hurried down the corridor as well they could with Shiro half-carrying, half-dragging Lance.

"My evaluators used to call me 'tenacious,'" Shiro said, head swinging back and forth as he tried to identify which corridor to take. He chose one and they kept moving.

Lance laughed a little, then wheezed in pain, as he swung the rifle on his hip and pointed it behind them. His accuracy suffered trying to shoot the plasma rifle one-handed, but it was still possible to lay down cover fire when a new contingent of the drone soldiers came down the corridor following them, packed tight.

Time passed oddly, Lance noticed. They were in the corridor then they weren't, then they were by pod bay doors. "Don't do this to me," Shiro said to Lance, who blinked at him slowly, unsure what he was talking about. Shiro had his hand on the control door that opened a pod, and Lance realized he was leaning, shoulder in, to the wall beside Shiro.

"Oh," Lance said. "Did we make it?"

"Yeah," Shiro said. The pod opened, lit in fuchsia and magenta, and Shiro shoved Lance in, strapping him in to a seat carefully. "Stay with me, Lance," he said, pressing Lance's bayard back into his hand.

Lance looked down at the bayard in his hand curiously, because he hadn't remembered at what point he dropped it. "I thought you said that it just grazed me," he mumbled, the edges of his vision gone hazy. He was really, __really__ tired.

"You're in shock," Shiro said, dropping into the pilot's seat and flipping switches. "Just hang on with me for a little longer, okay? We're gonna getting out of here."

"Yeah, okay," Lance said, his eyes slipping closed. It was the last thing he remembered.

* * *

Allura stood in front of the memory core. It had been torn from its spot, rooted into the floor of the Galran ship, and now stood, out of place and foreign, in the middle of the castle-ship's training room. Hunk's lion had carefully carried the obelisk in its mouth, followed by the smaller green lion. Keith had returned the speeders to their lions, the blue and black lions could be recalled by the ship given their proximity, and he had escorted the pilotless lions just to be on the safe side.

The purple obelisk pulsed, slightly. "It is based on Vertruian designs," Coran acknowledged, "but it is definitely Galran in origin."

Allura nodded her head, her hands clasped before her as she watched the lettering light faintly in gold and then fade. The obelisk had started reacting like that while it was in the mouth of Hunk's lion, pulsing every so often, following by certain runes and writing lighting up in sequence and fading. "I'm afraid that there's nothing we can do to speed up the process," she said softly.

Pidge was in the process of hooking up sensors to the monolith. "Maybe it's reacting to Altean technology?" she suggested. "I don't know what runs the memory core, if it isn't a ship's systems or a crystal; it doesn't make any sense."

"They're run off of magic," Allura said, as she stepped forward, her eyes closed and pressed a palm to the covered-surface.

"Right, magic," Pidge said, disbelief evident in her voice. She looked over to Keith, who was the only one still in his paladin armor, having practically thrown himself out of his lion and rushing to the training room and not moving since. Keith had barely said a word since they got back, focused entirely on the obelisk as if he could draw out Lance and Shiro by sheer force of his will alone.

As Allura's palm made contact with the obelisk, it was like an electric current ran through the room. The lettering that had been flashing gold in turn all lit in creamy white and stayed lit. Pidge's eyes got wide, and she looked down at the laptop she had hooked to the memory core, and back up at Allura, as the glow enveloped Allura's arm.

"That's the same-" she said, but it wasn't, not really, because the light that had taken Lance and Shiro had been amber before it grew to bright to look at directly.

Then the monolith pulsed again, and again. "Come free," Allura said, eyes closed and voice magnified. "Children of the stars, release."

A final pulse, with a dazzling light, but as the light faded everyone could hear the impact of bodies hitting the floor. Pidge scrambled to her feet as Hunk moved forward quickly past her, but not as fast as Keith. By the time Pidge's vision had cleared Hunk had Lance scooped up in his arms. "Lance!" Lance's face was ashen under the visor of his helmet, and he wasn't moving.

Keith had Shiro, he was kneeling beside him on the floor. Shiro was laying face down, also still. Allura had been knocked down by the final pulse, but she was sitting upright. "Take them to the medical pods," she said. "Right away!"


	20. Chapter 20

There was nothing physically wrong with either of them, Coran had declared, although neither Shiro nor Lance had stirred since being expelled from the memory core. That was worrying enough on its own, but Allura had decided the best course of action would be a night's stay in the medical bay. Keith had originally decided to stay put and observe, but Hunk had picked him up under one arm and said they all needed to eat and rest, and that they could trust in the Altean technology to do its job in the interim.

He wasn't really hungry, but Keith ate because Hunk was watching him. They were all tired, and worried, and there were so many unanswered questions that would bubble up but no one really felt much like talking. Keith sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees and stared at his dangling hands. Unable to sleep, really, he put his boots on and slipped out of the pilot's quarters, heading back toward the medical bay.

The doors to the training room were open, and Keith hesitated there. The Galran memory core was still sitting where they had deposited it, garish purple standing out against the clean white of the Altean ship's design. To his surprise, Allura was standing in front of it, her hair unbound and her hands on the column. "Princess," Keith said, automatically, and Allura straightened and dropped her hands as Keith stepped into the room.

"Keith," Allura said, half turning and folding her hands in front of her automatically. "What are you doing up? You should be resting, like the others."

 _ _Can't sleep__ , Keith thought but the words never actually left his mouth. He stared past Allura at the obelisk, felt a sick feeling in the pit of him stomach, something solid and black that didn't have form. "What are you doing?" he asked, and Allura closed her eyes and glanced to the side.

"It's foolish," she admitted. "I was trying to see how to make the core activate. I was able to withdraw Shiro and Lance, and I'm unsure how I knew the proper way to do so."

"You didn't know how?" Keith said, surprised.

"No." She turned back around to look at the obelisk, and Keith stopped a few steps away. "It's like ... it told me what I needed to do, what I had to say. Almost like it is sentient, in and of itself." She touched the pillar again with no hesitation, but the writing scrawled along it did not light up. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and Keith thought he saw a flicker of white along the base of the column. He caught Allura's elbow and tugged her arm gently, and she opened her eyes in surprise as her hand came away from the column.

"It's been a long few days," Keith said. "The memory core isn't going anywhere, Princess. Hunk and Pidge were going to get started on it in the morning, anyway. You should go back to bed."

Allura frowned at him, and Keith released her arm as if suddenly realizing what he was doing. Then she sighed and turned away from the column. "You're right," she said after a moment. However, she didn't move, staring away toward the far wall, before glancing back to Keith. "I meant to ask," she said suddenly, awkwardly, and Keith could __feel__ the tonal shift of her voice. "How is your... heat?"

Keith liked to think he didn't blush too easily, the last week of his life aside, but he was making turning pink into an art form. He forced himself not to look away, even if he couldn't stop the blood from rushing to his cheeks and ears. "I think it's over," he said. "I don't really know how to explain a lot of it, but I need to talk to..." Lance's name stuck in his throat, like he couldn't get it out and he let the sentence lay, incomplete. "I won't let it interfere with out missions again."

Allura's mouth twitched up into a smile, and if anything that made Keith blush more. "I am certain you won't," she said kindly. "But please don't feel that you need to hide any part of yourself from us, Keith. Now, or in the future."

Keith nodded his head, feeling just as awkward by the moment. Allura yawned suddenly, covering her mouth quickly with one hand. "Goodness," she said when she finished. "I think I will excuse myself to sleep. You should do the same," she added, glancing at the memory core again suspiciously, as if thinking that Keith was coming here to do the same thing that she was. "It will be morning before we know it, and I am sure Shiro and Lance both will need all of our support."

"Yes," Keith said, as he started to follow Allura from the training room. He hesitated only a moment as he saw a flicker of color from the corner of his eye - and when he glanced back at the memory core he swore he saw a hint of gold color in some of the runes, but when he blinked his eyes it didn't appear to be there. A trick of the light? "Goodnight princess," he said as Allura headed off down the corridor to the royal chambers.

She waved a hand but didn't look back at him, and Keith touched his hand to the door plate that closed the doors to the training room, leaving the corridor lit only by the dim glow of the track lighting.

* * *

Hunk found Keith sleeping against Lance's medical pod, his arms folded and his chin to his chest, legs stretched out as far as they could and the tip of his boot brushing Shiro's medical pod. "Aw," Pidge said, peeking around Hunk's side. "That's __adorable.__ "

"Shh," Hunk hissed, as Pidge aimed her phone at the scene. "You'll wake him."

"Probably." That didn't stop Pidge from taking a few pictures, and the quick click of the shutter on her device did make Keith stir a little, head rolling on what had to be a very stiff neck. Pidge had her phone safely squirreled away by the time Keith lifted his head and blinked gummy eyes, squinting at the fact that the lights had gone from running the much-dimmer night cycle to the brighter day one.

"Good morning," Hunk said cheerily, and Keith's gaze swept over to the doorway. He blinked a few times, clearly processing and then woke up all at once, flailing fully upright.

"Jeez," Pidge said, as she walked over to the pods and looked at the diagnostic displays. "Did you sleep here all night, Keith?"

" _ _No__ ," Keith croaked, his voice off. He cleared his throat a bit and climbed to his feet, stretching his arms over his head. "No," he said again, and rotated his shoulder.

"Uh-huh," Hunk didn't sound like he believed Keith at all but wasn't going to challenge him on it.

"Their vitals seem good," Pidge said. "Allura wanted them in these things until lunchtime, but I think I'm going to spring them early." She started pressing buttons on the front of Shiro's pod.

"Hey, wait a sec," Hunk said. "I thought we just came here to pick up Keith and make sure he wasn't sleeping in front of Shiro's pod." Hunk gave Keith a sidelong look, and Keith refused to look back at him, instead leaning over Pidge's shoulder and watching her puzzle out the controls.

"Yeah, well, I'm going rogue on this one," she said, and pressed one final button. The pod dinged, and she took a step back as it hissed, and then caught Keith's arm and pulled him a step back as well. The medical pod hummed for a moment, then the front shielding sliding aside.

There was a long moment of silence, then Shiro groaned and touched his forehead with one hand, before cracking open his eyes. Keith let out a breath that he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, Pidge's hand still on his arm and keeping him in place with a simple touch.

"Shiro," Keith said, and Shiro looked up and focused on him, like it took a moment to return himself to the present.

"Keith," he said, and there was an undercurrent to his voice that just felt __right__ , and Keith could relax again. Shiro's eyes lingered for a moment, then flickered down to Pidge beside Keith, and his face shifted into something normal again. "Pidge," he said, and looked up to see Hunk a little behind them. "Hunk." Shiro looked around again, his brow furrowed and then a sudden worry. "Where's Lance?"

"I haven't woken him up yet," Pidge said, as Shiro staggered forward, out of the pod. Keith put out his arms out of reflex and caught Shiro against himself, braced just enough so that he could take his weight. Shiro held on to him for a moment, arm looped over Keith's shoulder and prosthetic hand gripping Keith's shoulder tightly, before he could straighten under his own power. He didn't remove his arm right away, though.

"Where is he?" Shiro said, as he looked back and then saw the other medical pod. Pidge had pulled up the controls on it and now Shiro stepped away from Keith, going to the pod and putting his hand on it, peering down at Lance inside. Pidge looked up at him as he stared down into it, and then sighed in relief. "He wasn't shot when we came out of it, was he?" It was more a statement than a question, directed at Pidge.

" _ _Shot__?" Hunk squeaked.

Pidge shook her head. "You two were entirely intact, just out cold."

Shiro sighed again in relief, then nodded. "Lance got __shot__?" Hunk said again, and Shiro looked back toward him, and Keith, then looked back to the pod.

"It was my fault," he said, and stepped back from the pod. Pidge continued to type away at the controls, then Lance's pod made the same soft chime and opened. Lance tilted forward, eyes still closed and Keith moved forward without thinking, but Shiro stepped in front of him and caught Lance before he could pitch face first into the floor. Hunk and Keith crowded behind Shiro as Lance clung to his arm and groaned.

"Lance?" Shiro said. "You all right?"

"I feel like Hunk sat on me," Lance mumbled, then opened his eyes and squinted past Shiro's bicep at Keith. "Oh," he said, and turned pink.

"Hey!" Hunk said, injured.

"I think Lance is okay," Pidge said. She smacked Lance's side, because he was staring at Keith still, eyes wide like he had been caught out at something. "Okay, come on," she said. "I bet you two need to clean up and refresh. Hunk and I will start breakfast."

Keith's eyes had gone from Lance's face to Shiro's. He'd noticed the smell right away, although it was fainter than he expected; probably because his heat had finally ended. Shiro had clearly noticed it, the muscles in his jaw were tight. Keith put his hand on Shiro's shoulder, even as Lance finally pulled himself fully to his feet, face still flushed pink.

"That sounds like a fine idea, Pidge," Shiro said, his voice remarkably level. Hunk had noticed too, Keith thought, because he was staring at Shiro as well. "I'm absolutely starving."

"Yeah," Lance said. "I feel like I could eat an entire horse. Hunk You better bring your 'A' game, where that goo is concerned." He inhaled and held it, then smirked at Hunk. Hunk eyed him with suspicion, then stepped closer and peered at Lance.

"An __entire__ horse?" he said.

"Don't test me," Lance retorted, and shoved Hunk with one hand.

In response Hunk immediately hugged Lance and said loudly, "I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE OKAY."

Everyone laughed in relief as Lance struggled a bit in Hunk's embrace and finally went limp.

* * *

The door to Lance's room was unlocked, it parted instantly when Keith put his hand on the pad outside. It was a bit presumptuous to let himself in without knocking, but Keith had spent a good few minutes standing outside the door trying to decide what he was going to do, so he wasn't going to let himself get turned away by Lance telling him to go.

He had walked Shiro to the showers, trying to get him to talk but he had been mostly quiet. He didn't shrink away from Keith's touch, and had looped his arm over Keith's shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of his head before disappearing into the locker room. With his heat over, Keith hadn't felt the almost maddening urgency to push Shiro against the wall and kiss him, to climb on him and do things that shouldn't really be thought about it public, but he still wanted... he still __wanted__ , and it burned more fiercely than it had.

Shiro was distracted by Lance's scent, and it __bothered__ him. He wasn't going to be jealous, he __wasn't__ , but he lingered outside of Lance's room and finally just let himself in. They needed to talk, anyway. At least, that's what he told himself.

The lights were on in full in Lance's room. He'd been sitting on the bed, clearly, his legs over the side but he'd flopped over backwards and both his arms were folded over his face. Keith stood awkwardly as the door closed behind him, and then the scent washed over him and he realized, __oh__. This was how Lance had known __he__ was in heat.

God, he hoped the others couldn't smell that.

"What do you want," Lance said, voice tired, without lifting his arms from his face. "You do know knocking is an option, right? This is my room, mostly."

"Are you all right?" Keith asked.

Lance let out a low laugh, but it didn't sound healthy. "Yeah, the suppressants haven't kicked in yet, I missed one because of all this and that's fucked everything up." He sighed and shifted, clearly uncomfortable.

He had come to talk, Keith reminded himself. All the same, he felt his heart beating in his throat, remembering the way Shiro had been looking down at Lance in his arms, and felt the strangest, fiercest pull. "Do you want me to help?" he asked finally.

"If I say no, will you go away?" Lance still hadn't moved his arms off his face. Keith walked over to the bed, and looked down at Lance.

"No," he said. "I won't touch you if you say no, but I'm not going to go." He sat down on the edge of the mattress next to Lance and let out a long sigh, then leaned back on his hands.

They sat in silence for a little while, Lance's breathing coming harder than before. Finally he let out a low noise and lifted his arms, face flushed red from his chin to his hairline. "Why can't you just pick Shiro?" he said finally. "Why do you have to keep confusing me with all this, I don't __want__ this!"

"I __have__ picked Shiro," Keith said, surprised at how calmly the words came out. Lance's face crumpled weirdly, like he hadn't been expecting Keith to say that, despite the words that had come out of his own mouth. Keith twisted a little, weight braced on one hand so he could look Lance full in the face. He leaned over Lance and stared down at him, his flushed face and distraught expression. "But," he said softly, "I also picked you."

"... _ _what?__ " Lance said.

"I had a lot of time to think, last night," Keith said. He touched Lance's face softly with his fingers, brow furrowed with the importance of the message he was delivering. "I decided I'm not going to choose, that's stupid. I like you both."

If Lance turned any more red, Keith was worried he'd burst a blood vessel. "B-but you __gotta__ ," he said. "You have to! That's the way these things _ _work__ -" he gestured one hand in the air off to one side, but Keith didn't look away.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you __gotta-"__

"Why?" Lance let out a frustrated noise as Keith lowered his head more, eyes narrowed. "Do you not want me?" he asked, and the frustrated noise went strangled.

"Of __course__ I do-"

"Then this is the best solution, don't you think?" Keith's nose was practically brushing Lance's.

Lance was breathing very hard. "Oh, __fuck__ me," he said, and surged up the little bit to close the distance between their mouths.

Keith hadn't entirely been expecting it, he had planned it that __he__ would kiss Lance while Lance was still lying back on the bed, and as a result their teeth clicked together and foreheads cracked against each other. "Ow, __shit__ ," Keith said, as Lance's head thumped back into the bed and he whined, palm going to his forehead.

"That wasn't __nearly__ as sexy as I thought it was going to be in my head," Lance said, petulantly.

"Do you still not want any help?" Keith asked, putting one hand on Lance's chest. His skin was so warm, even through the thin material of the shirt he was wearing. "Because this is the last time I'm offering before I go see what everyone else is doing."

"Did you not hear me say 'fuck me'?" Lance said.

Keith's eyebrows lifted. "I thought you were just..." he said, and then paused. "Really?"

Lance let out a very frustrated noise. He shoved at Keith, who sat all the way back up, and then lifted his hips up off the bed. "Whoa," Keith said, as Lance shoved his pants down his hips and thighs and then got himself tangled up around his ankles. "Whoa, Lance, there's this thing called foreplay-" Keith said, as Lance got his pants off one ankle.

"I'm in __heat__ ," Lance snarled. "The suppressants haven't kicked in again, and if you aren't going to put your dick in my ass I'll find something else to-" He was cut off as Keith caught one of Lance's flailing wrists and pulled him to Keith, so that Keith could actually kiss him properly. Lance struggled a moment then stopped, his unrestricted hand going to Keith's head and his fingers tangling in Keith's dark hair.

"You didn't want to before," Keith said. "Are you sure...?"

"Can we not psychoanalyze this?" Lance asked. "Can you just help me out, here?"

Keith caught Lance by the back of the head, kept him close. "You freaked out on me before," he said. "I don't want to hurt you, Lance. I-" he couldn't say the rest yet, and his face turned pink.

Lance closed his eyes and leaned forward enough that their foreheads rested together. "It was my first time," he said softly. "Since ... since then." He was quiet, eyes closed tight, reliving something that made Keith want to pull someone's scrotum through their nostrils. Lance opened his eyes slowly. "You won't hurt me," he said. "I know what I'm asking for."

He took one deep breath, then two. "I've never," Keith started to say, and Lance kissed him quiet, falling back onto the bed and pulling Keith down on top of him.

* * *

Keith's hand was warm, but not as warm as Lance's skin. He felt like his blood was boiling, as Keith's hand traveled higher, rucking up the hem of the loose white shirt Lance was still wearing. His fingers were exploring slowly, his mouth on Lance's erection, the fingers of his other hand spreading him open. There were so many other things he should be thinking about right now, things to unpack and go over in his mind but right now it was all Keith; Keith's hands, Keith's mouth, Keith's fingers.

Lance kept one hand over his mouth, clamped tight, the other was on Keith's head, holding him there. He wanted to surge up off the bed, thrust himself into Keith's mouth again and again until he choked but the fingers inside of him made his knees tremble too much to get him leverage up off the bed. He wanted more, and he knew that Keith knew that he wanted more, and now he was just being a dick about it and stringing him along until he came again.

 _ _Keith picked him.__

That was a thought that did rattle around. Yes, Keith picked Shiro too but he actually, honestly, wanted Lance too? It was a feeling he'd been circling for a week now, too big and bright for him to really take it all in.

Keith's fingers reached __something__ , and even the hand over his mouth couldn't keep the noise in his throat. Lance came hard, and Keith kept his mouth on him, __swallowing.__ "Fuck," Lance almost sobbed. It was his third orgasm, and he was shaking because he needed something more than fingers.

Keith licked up the side of his still-hard cock. "How many times did you make me come in the shower?" he asked conversationally, as if he wasn't cleaning Lance's cock like a cat.

Lance panted to the ceiling, recalling the image of Keith sprawled out of his lap, cock constantly leaking fluid onto the wet tile floor in the showers. "I don't remember," he lied.

"Mm," Keith said. He shifted a little and pulled his fingers free. "We really should use a condom," he said as he got up on his knees, pushing Lance's thighs back and exposing his wet hole. He didn't seem interested in moving though, staring down at Lance like he was captivated.

"You can't get me pregnant if that's what you're worried about," Lance said.

Now Keith's brows came together again. "I didn't even think about that," he said.

"Well, omegas generally can't get other omegas pregnant so we're fine." Lance wiggled a little. "This position is embarrassing, can't you do something, or are you just gonna stare?"

Keith used his thumbs to spread Lance's hole just a bit. "Are you sure?" he said. "I can still ride you, I don't mind-"

"Are you scared?" Lance said. "I mean, if you're scared it's cool, but you realize you're never not going to be the bottom again if you admit to it-"

"Oh god just shut __up__ ," Keith said, pressing his hips against Lance, and dragging his cock through the fluid that had run down his crack. Lance did, thankfully, shut up at the sensation of Keith's cock prodding at him, and when Keith looked back up at him, his expression was unreadable.

He kept his eyes on Lance's, and went by feel. Watching the strange expression melt into something else entirely as the head of Keith's cock slipped in was a little bit amazing, and even more so as he sank into the warm, wet heat.

Lance closed his eyes and bit his lip, then moaned something reverently that Keith didn't really understand but recognized as content. His legs came up and hugged Keith's hips, holding him in place. "Okay?" Keith asked finally, his own chest heaving at the sight of Lance blissed out beneath him. Sweat traced down the back of his neck and his tee shirt stuck to him. If he'd thought more about it, he would have pulled it off sooner.

"Yeah," Lance said finally, and opened his eyes to meet Keith's. " _ _Yeah__." And then he grinned, and Keith was absolutely dazzled by that expression on his face, and felt like the most ridiculous thing ever when he returned the grin, and they were both grinning stupidly at each other until Lance smacked his thigh with one hand and groaned, "fucking __fuck__ me already, god-" and Keith had to remember yeah, yeah that's what they were supposed to be doing here, after all.

* * *

"This goo is pink," Lance said, eying the plate of goo that Hunk put in front of him.

"You were __late__ to __breakfast__ ," Hunk said sharply.

Lance looked up at Hunk absolutely shamelessly. "Something __really__ important came up," he said, and leaned out of elbow-digging room before Keith could elbow him. " _ _Really__ important."

"I bet it did," Pidge muttered from the end of the table. "I bet it came up repeatedly."

Lance really couldn't decide if Shiro choking on his mouth full of food or Keith turning as red as his favorite jacket was his favorite part of that meal, so he stuck a spoon filled with wobbly pink good in his mouth and grinned.


	21. Chapter 21

Keith seemed to have moved into Lance's room properly now. Not that anyone had much by way of belongings, but every time Lance popped in to his quarters Keith was already there; sitting on the floor sharpening his knife, sitting at the desk (when did he get a __desk?__ ) poring over readouts in script that Lance couldn't read even if he tilted his head, or his absolute favorite was to find Keith curled up in the middle of __his__ bed, wrapped up in __his__ covers and drooling on __his__ pillow.

They weren't even going to discuss that time he found Keith sleeping under the covers with his boots on. __With his boots on.__ Absolutely __savage.__ Lance had rolled him out of bed, dumped the sheets in the chute that opened from the wall and pulled the fresh sheets he had found in a drawer out, all without saying a word to Keith who sat on the floor with a sleepy, puzzled expression.

Despite Keith saying that he also 'chose' Shiro, he never seemed to take over __Shiro's__ quarters. Lance snorted to himself as he stalked down the corridor, hands jammed in the pockets of his jeans as he sulked. He didn't __mind__ Keith in his space, it was comforting, but ... he still hadn't figured himself out. Lance stalked past the final room in the corridor and then hesitated and spun on his heel. Shiro's room was the last (or the first, depending on which direction you were coming from), and despite his nominal status as team leader it was pretty much identical to everyone else's quarters.

He had been avoiding Shiro for the better part of two days. It was kinda shitty for him to do, and Lance would be the first to admit it, but a __lot__ had happened in a short time frame and, well... he was in heat. It was waning by now, he wouldn't even need his suppressant tomorrow, he'd be in the clear and not feel as on-edge as he had been. Lance raised a hesitant hand, then felt silly and knocked confidentially on the outer door.

"It's open, Lance," Shiro's voice came from inside, slightly out of breath. Lance turned pink as the doors opened to allow him in, only to see Shiro doing push-ups on the floor. He hesitated, mid-push, his head turned to the door to verify Lance's identity, before he turned his face and attention back to what he was doing.

"How did you __know__ ," Lance said, hands shoved into his jeans and shoulders held tight.

"Could smell you," Shiro said, and didn't stop.

"My heat's almost __over__ ," Lance said. "Plus, with the suppressants you shouldn't be able to smell anything, that's half the point of the stupid things!" The doors hissed closed behind him, and Lance felt his heart jump a little but forced the calm into his voice.

Shiro stopped his pushups and hiked himself to his feet. Lance could still smell him, just a bit – but he wasn't certain how much of that was the sweat in the air versus his sensitivity to alphas during a heat. "I've always been able to smell you," Shiro said finally, and picked up the water bottle that was sitting on his desk. Lance frowned at the desk, he swore he didn't remember having a desk but now everyone seemed to have one, and that bothered him. Shiro turned around and leaned his weight against it. "Keith too. I can smell everyone, Pidge, Hunk... even the princess, and Coran."

"Even the mice?" Lance asked facetiously, and Shiro's brow furrowed as he thought about that, and Lance held up a hand. "Wait, you can smell __all__ of us? Hunk's not an omega, and I don't think Pidge has even presented-"

"I'm not..." Shiro's left hand touched his arm, an almost automatic, unconscious gesture. "I'm not a normal alpha," he said after he had collected himself. "Not anymore."

"All this time, you could smell me." Lance shook his head and folded his arms. Then, Shiro's words seemed to sink in and he raised his eyes to Shiro's face quickly, but Shiro wasn't looking at him, exactly... he was looking away, through the bulkhead of the ship and into something that only he could see. "I should have come by sooner," he said. "To see if you were okay."

Now Shiro did look at him, surprised. "You don't need to do that."

"Yeah, I do," Lance said, and took a step forward, toward Shiro. "That was __hellish__ , Shiro, and you lived through it not once but __twice.__ It's not something just shrugged off and away!"

Shiro stared at him for a long while, then looked away. "What do you want me to do?" he said quietly.

"I don't know," Lance gestured helplessly. "You can't just bottle this shit up, though, it'll fucking wreck you. I know that much, at least."

This time the silence held for a longer time, Shiro with his arms folded too, head down. He seemed to be steadying himself, and he looked up at Lance and met his eye. "I almost got you killed, Lance."

Lance patted his side. He wasn't going to lie, when he thought about that moment, and the sudden pain and the shock of staring at the ceiling when he had been on his feet moments before, it made him actually, physically __ill__ , but - "You didn't almost get me killed," he said. "That wasn't your fault."

"It was __my__ memory-"

"Shiro, it wasn't your fault." Lance inhaled. "I know you know that, even if you don't believe it." He watched Shiro process this, and then discard it. He sighed and put his hands on his hips. "I can't __make__ you talk about this," he said. "So I'll tell you what I originally came here to say, and that's that it looks like Keith has officially taken over my room, so if you need him for whatever you'll find him there."

Lance did not expect for Shiro to turn pink at this information. "Everything smells like him now, it's driving me up the wall but my heat's almost over so then it won't be so bad." Lance shuddered a little and rubbed his hands up and down his arms.

One side of Shiro's mouth had tugged up into a soft grin. "Keith likes you very much," he said, and Lance almost missed the undertone there.

"Yeah, it would be better if he didn't start sleep-humping me moaning your name," Lance muttered, and yeah, if he had any doubts about Shiro turning pink now he had turned a nice, cherry-red. Keith's color, almost, Lance thought, amused. "I don't know why he doesn't just crawl into your bed when he's like that, it would solve the rest of the problems."

Now Shiro straightened from the desk, draining the water bottle and avoiding Lance's gaze entirely. "He's made his choice," he said. "I'm going to the showers, it's been a long day-"

"Wait, wait," Lance held up both his hands and Shiro stopped just shy of running into Lance. He was clearly surprised that Lance hadn't moved aside. "He chose __me__?"

Shiro gave him a puzzled look. "He's sleeping in your bed, isn't he?"

"Oh, god," Lance said, and rubbed his forehead. "That fucking moron." Shiro was giving him another puzzled expression and Lance gestured back toward the door wildly. "He said he wasn't giving up on you! Did he not walk the, what, thirty feet to your door and explain this too?"

Shiro shook his head wordlessly and Lance let out a very loud and angry groan. "I'm going to kill him. I can't believe he was going to let __you__ think that. I'm going to march right back down there and kick the sense into his pointy omega head-"

" _ _Lance__ ," Shiro said, and touched Lance's shoulder. Lance abruptly stopped moving altogether, held frozen by the touch. "If Keith didn't tell me, he may have had good reason to. Let him talk to me on his own time, okay? Don't force this."

Lance didn't move, he could hardly think. Shiro's hand, his false, Galran hand was resting on his shoulder and it felt as warm and solid as a real hand, maybe just a bit heavier. But Shiro was close enough to touch him, and Lance's stomach had curled into a little ball, and he was finding the idea of breathing somewhat difficult. "Lance?" Shiro leaned in just a little, and Lance went ramrod-straight. "Are you all right...?"

There was a moment of absolute stillness, with Shiro way too close and Lance's heart beating way too hard, and then Shiro's eyes widened just a bit and he moved back a step, yanking his hand back from Lance's shoulder like he had been scalded. "Sorry," he said suddenly. "I forgot, you're still in heat, I wasn't even thinking..."

Lance very slowly wet his lips and tried not to think about the fact that something in him was hoping that Shiro had leaned in closer and kissed him. Shiro was the only alpha on board, of __course__ he'd have those kind of thoughts occasionally, especially now – especially with Shiro staring hard at him, his false hand reaching out again, this time to cup Lance's jaw, to run a suspiciously-warm thumb over his lips and leaning in...

 _ _Shiro__ was _ _going to kiss him.__

And Lance was going to __let__ him.

 _ _It's the heat,__ Lance thought, a little dizzy. Sure he was almost through it, but – this was a mistake, coming alone to an alpha's quarters, he would let an alpha do __anything__ to him right now, suppressants be damned – and then Shiro's mouth was brushing his, slow and careful and almost chaste. It was almost disappointing, and Lance grabbed Shiro by the front of the shirt, soaked with sweat and showed him how to __really__ kiss.

It was a good few minutes before Lance came back to himself, grinding against Shiro's thigh and his hands clenching tight in the fabric of Shiro's shirt, stretched tight over his shoulders. It felt like Shiro had his tongue halfway down Lance's throat, and both his hands were holding Lance's head still as they kissed.

Lance shoved Shiro back with both hands, panting loudly and so very, obviously turned on. " _ _Fuck__ ," Lance gasped and dragged his hand over his mouth. They stared at each other wildly, and Lance said, his voice wobbly. "New rule; no touching while I'm in heat."

"Yeah," Shiro said, and nodded his head. "That's a good rule, that's a very good rule."

"Yeah," Lance said, and nodded his head too. They continued to stare at each other, chests heaving. "I'm going to go," Lance said finally, and Shiro nodded his head again, and Lance backed to the door, finding the door controls blindly and when they opened he stumbled backward through it and escaped down the corridor toward his own room.

* * *

When Lance stumbled through the door, Keith was sitting at the desk, a small globe illuminated on the display screen. He looked over at Lance, who was beet red and panting like he'd just run a marathon. "What's wrong with __you__?" Keith asked, as Lance started unbuckling his belt.

"I'm so fucking hard right now," Lance said hurriedly. "Will you suck me? I'll just jerk off otherwise-"

Keith stared at Lance, and Lance almost tripped himself shuffling forward and shoving one hand down into his underwear. "You're serious," he said, eyes wide. "Is this going to happen often on your heats...?"

"God, shut __up__ ," Lance hissed as Keith rose out of the chair and dropped to his knees in front of Lance. He started as Keith pulled his underwear down the rest of the way and gave a low whistle of appreciation at how hard his dick was, and how much it had already leaked.

"Suppressant or not you get more boners than anyone I've ever seen," Keith said. "I'm going to have to start keeping track, I'm gonna want full reciprocity for this." Lance grabbed a hand full of his hair and Keith actually laughed. "You want it rough, then?"

Lance doubled over Keith as Keith took care of him, and when he hissed out Shiro's name at the climax he could only hope that Keith was far too busy to hear him.


	22. Chapter 22

Keith __had__ heard.

When he left the room finally, he'd left Lance dozing on top of the covers on the bed, curled on his side and a content expression on his face. He had intended, as he stood outside the room, to go find Shiro and find out what had happened that made Lance so hard he came running back to the room begging to be serviced. The thought of what he'd done without even thinking made Keith's cheeks turn a little pink, but they were a __thing__ now, and besides, he liked it if only because he got a front-row seat for the moment when the smug was wiped completely off of Lance's face for a few seconds.

Shiro wasn't in his room. Keith walked by the training room, to see Pidge seated cross-legged in front of the memory core, a laptop balanced on her lap and surrounded by a rat's nest of wires. He knew better than to disturb __that__ , so he checked the galley and the bridge before heading toward the showers.

He could hear the showers going from the locker room, and found Shiro's clothes and towel laying on one of the benches. He __could__ wait here, that would be the logical, sane thing to do – but Keith pushed through the door to the showers, still fully dressed.

Shiro was in one of the stalls near the front of the row; he had both palms flat on the way and head ducked under the spray so that the water ran down his head and the back of his neck. Keith felt his heart jump into his throat, but didn't leave. Instead he walked to the stall that Shiro was standing in and stood in the row behind it, waiting to be noticed.

It took a while. Shiro groaned and turned his face under the spray, lifted his left hand, his real flesh hand and ran it down his chest, his belly and lower and Keith's eyes widened a bit. He hadn't really had a chance to see, yet – they'd showered together but he'd always made an effort not to look or stare openly, it was a well-known fact that alphas were decently endowed, a blessing in the genes – but now Keith __did__ let his eyes wander, following the path of Shiro's trailing hand until he brushed it over the root of his cock, already standing at attention.

"Wow," Keith breathed, despite himself and Shiro jerked, yanking his head out from under the spray and half-turning, eyes wide and surprised. Keith took a step back, away from the active shower but his eyes still drawn to Shiro's body, his warm, erect cock showing few signs of diminishing.

" _ _Keith?__ " Shiro said, strangled, his voice echoing on the tile. "What are you __doing__ here-?" His hand went to his cock as if to try to hide it from view, but at that size, erect, the only thing he could really do was grip the shaft helplessly.

"I was looking for you," Keith said, and reluctantly tore his eyes from the sight that greeted him between Shiro's legs and dragged it up to the vicinity of Shiro's eyes. "I was a little worried at... the way Lance came back to the room, did you...?" __Did you do anything to him, he wouldn't tell me but he moaned your name when he came in my mouth.__ Seeing Shiro like this was making him ache in other ways, too.

Shiro's face was red, from the hot water or the arousal it was impossible to tell for certain. He licked his lips as he stared at Keith, and said hoarsely, "I kissed him."

"You kissed ... Lance?"

Shiro nodded his head, and had the temerity to look abashed. "I shouldn't have, but he looked so ..." he gestured with his false hand, his Galran hand. "And I did."

Keith took a step forward, toward Shiro's shower stall, and then another. His eyes were on Shiro's, and Shiro stared at him with a hungry edge. They weren't going to, not here, but Shiro's expression was sending tingles down his spine. "Are you gonna kiss me now?" Keith asked, resting one hand on the semi-transparent door.

Shiro's hand, dripping wet, the left one, the one that had just been on his __cock__ touched Keith's face, brushed back into his hair. Keith tilted his head back as Shiro leaned down and he accepted the kiss, all of it, pushing up on his toes against the barrier so that Shiro didn't have to lean down as far.

His mouth was hot and wanting, made moreso by the steam of the shower. Keith gasped against Shiro's mouth, even as Shiro's prosthetic hand undid the latch on the tiny excuse for a door, letting it swing inwards and drawing Keith just that step closer. He was going to get __soaked,__ but he couldn't imagine caring about it as Shiro's Galran hand did all the work, unbuckling his pants and feeling him through his underwear, drawing his own erection out and then taking another step forward so that their bodies crushed together.

Shiro's cock was huge next to his, large and twitching. Keith didn't have to look down as Shiro wrapped them both in the fingers of his false hand and began to stroke, hard and fast. It was dazzling, this sensation; the water still carrying the warmth of the shower, of Shiro's body as it soaked into his shirt and pants.

Keith gasped, unable to hold it for very long. He felt his body convulse, felt Shiro's hand tighten and then he could feel Shiro's cock twitch and contract. Shiro kept kissing him as his own come splattered between them, soaking into the front of Keith's shirt.

" _ _Shiro__ ," Keith said, and Shiro kept kissing him; the sound of the water hitting the tile the only other sound aside from their panting breaths.

* * *

When Keith got back to his room he shoved his water-and-fluids soaked clothing in the laundry chute. They'd appear, completely clean in a few hours; he had learned this from prior experience. Then he looked over to the bed, only to see that Lance who had been curled into a ball when he left had somehow transmogrified into a starfish. His limbs were flopped out in every direction, head back and snoring through an open mouth.

"For fuck's sake," Keith muttered as he climbed onto the bed and bullied Lance into a less spread-out sleeping posture. His blood was still electric in his veins, and all he could think about was the expression on Shiro's face, brows drawn together in concentration, his mouth open just a little as he came, hand tight on the both of them. Keith's face was red, but he buried it in the back of Lance's neck, putting his arm over Lance's side and pulling him back against Keith.

He expected some form of resistance – but he didn't expect Lance to melt back against him and hum a happy, sleepy tune of contentment before drifting off again.

Keith inhaled a little, and smiled against Lance's neck. Now, if only he could requisition a bed big enough for all three of them...

* * *

"The moon of Eaphus?" Keith repeated, standing between Lance and Shiro, his arms folded. Allura stood on the other side of the three-dimensional starmap, shrunk down to show one particular binary star system, full of half a dozen planets of varying size.

"Yes," Allura touched the starmap with her fingers and it zoomed in further, on a gas giant that quickly filled the portion of the map they were zoomed in on. "It was a particular favorite of Father's, when the paladins needed to rest and rejuvenate themselves." She looked up and looked at Shiro in particular, who met her gaze evenly and did not blanch and look away like Lance or Keith did.

"So it's not a mission," Shiro said. "It's a vacation."

"I wouldn't call it a __vacation__ ," Coran corrected from his position at the forward of the bridge. "There's much training to be done, there! Your current training and teamwork will really be put to the test!"

"That doesn't sound very much like a vacation to __me__ ," Lance muttered, and Keith elbowed him.

"What __kind__ of training?" Pidge asked, and Coran didn't turn around or answer her, and Pidge and Lance exchanged eyebrow-raised glances.

"We don't need a vacation," Shiro said firmly. "There's too much that still needs to be done before we can even think about some r & r."

"Hey man, speak for yourself," Lance said, leaning forward. "I am __all__ about some shore leave." He looked at Allura, on the other side of the map. "So what kind of planet is Eaphus, anyway, what kind of vacation are we talking about?"

"Eaphus is a gas giant," Keith said. "Weren't you listening?"

"The __moon__ of Eaphus has sustainable atmosphere to oxygen-breathing humanoids," Coran said. "It is a volcanic planet, dense in mineral-rich soil."

"Oh, a volcano planet. That sounds like a good time," Lance said sarcastically.

"Lance," Shiro said, then addressed Allura. "If it's what you think is best, Princess."

Allura nodded her head. "We'll arrive there in about a week's time, without using wormholes. It's safer, I feel, not to attract a lot of attention."

"I agree," Shiro said, and nodded. "In the meantime, we need to get back to training. As a __team__ ," he added, before anyone could sneak off. "We've been really lax as of late, with everything that's been going on, and we need to rectify that." He cast his glance over the other paladins, who were all looking at him. "After breakfast, I expect everyone to report to the training room. __In uniform__."


	23. Chapter 23

Pidge sat on the floor in front of the memory core. She had wanted the thing moved to the green lion's hanger, where she had set up a nest of monitors and wires and various computer systems, but it had been a nightmare enough getting it to the training room, so in the training room the memory core stayed. She'd lugged up most of her equipment and now sat, monitors on either side of her and a bevy of wires and other calibration devices ensconcing the pillar.

Trying to find some measurable scale with which to further delve into the inner workers of the memory core was proving utterly futile; and every now and then Allura would check in on her and say something patronizing about magic that set Pidge's teeth on edge. There was __no such thing as magic;__ just things science had yet to explain!

"What the heck are you trying to do over here, anyway?" Lance said, and Pidge looked up from her data and blinked owlishly.

The others had been using the training room to work out and spar, which Pidge knew she should be involving herself in – but __mystery pillar with mysteries to crack__ _–_ but she'd been so involved that she'd clearly forgotten. She looked up at Lance, who was wearing a black tee shirt that was a little too loose on him, and frowned. "Trying to figure out if this thing will be any use to us," she said, and hit a few keys. "What did you do to trigger it?"

"I didn't do anything," Lance said hotly. "I only touched it!" He wiped his hand back along his forehead into his hair, still breathing a little hard. "It was lighting up, remember?"

"Only you saw that," Pidge muttered mostly under her breath. "Could you touch it for me again? I want to measure any readings it might give off."

" _ _Hell__ no!"

She shrugged. "It's for science?"

"No, Pidge." Lance shook his head. "Not in a million years."

Pidge squinted at Lance. "Are you wearing Keith's shirt?"

" _ _NO__ ," Lance said a little loudly. " _ _Keith__ is wearing Keith's shirt, this was just in the drawer in our room! The ship provides shit, remember?"

"'Our' room?" Pidge repeated with a wicked grin, pushing her glasses up her nose.

Lance opened his mouth and shut it a few times, doing a marvelous impression of a fish at feeding time. "That's dirty pool," he muttered, then inclined his head. "Shiro wants us to work on defensive maneuvers, and that means all of us."

"All right, all right," she said. "Give me a few to finish up this program so it can run without supervision, and I'll be right over."

* * *

Lance and Hunk were standing off to one side of the training mat, half watching what was occuring on the mat, half watching the chrono on Hunk's phone pad. Pidge watched Shiro and Keith spar for a good ninety seconds – Shiro had Keith in a headlock, currently, but somehow Keith wriggled out of it and they kept going – before looking at Hunk's phone. "What time?"

"They've been at it for eleven minutes now," Hunk said, impressed and a little bit scared.

Pidge shrugged and watched them wrestle for another minute longer, before looking over at Lance. "So," she said, a grin spreading slowly. "Is that what it's like between you and Keith in bed? I figure it would be over by now-"

"Oh god, __stop talking__ ," Lance said, and turned red.

Hunk looked up from his timekeeping to look at Lance, then to the wrestling on the mat, where Keith had gotten Shiro's human arm twisted behind him but wasn't holding it well. "Are you imagining them, you know..."

Pidge looked back to the mat and cocked her head. "Well, now __I__ am," she said, and Lance abruptly sat down cross-legged, beet red.

"What did I __ever do__ to you two?" he sulked, arms folded.

Abruptly, from the mat Keith let out a breathy, pained groan and all three of them looked to see Shiro pinning Keith face-first into the mat. Keith wiggled underneath Shiro's weight, face deeply red but Shiro had him pinned well and he wasn't going anywhere. "Do you yield?" Shiro said clearly, although he was staring down at Keith and breathing very hard.

"Not a fucking chance," Keith snarled and wriggled and tried to get free.

"I don't think they remember we're here," Hunk said, turning faintly pink as Shiro lowered his head closer to Keith's and adjusted his body slightly.

" _ _Yield__ ," Shiro ordered, and even Pidge turned pink at his tone.

Keith growled and wiggled and then let out another breathy gasp before finally croaking, "I yield, I __yield.__ "

Without hesitation Shiro rolled off of Keith, and stood up, wiping his hands on his trousers and then looking at the others arrayed at the edge of the mat. Lance was still sitting cross-legged, bright red and staring at Keith, his hands clearly displayed by resting on his knees. Keith got up on his hands and knees, and then sat back on his ankles, wiping the back of one hand against his mouth and refusing to make eye contact with anyone, least of all Lance.

"Good, everyone's here now," Shiro said, somewhat winded but not allowing that to affect his voice. "We're gonna work on defensive combinations and drilling with bayards." Hunk pulled Lance to his feet, and Lance raised his hand.

"I think Keith might need a cold shower first," he reported.

" _ _Lance,__ " Shiro said in his warning tone.

"Just an observation," Lance called, now from behind Hunk, because Keith had gotten to his feet and looked like he had murder on his mind.

"Focus," Shiro said. "We have a lot to catch up on, break time's over."

* * *

Lance rest his chin on the long table and stared morosely across it. "My __everything__ hurts," he whined, and didn't even scoot away to avoid the half-hearted jab from his left, where Keith was slumped in the high-backed chair.

"You didn't get your face ground into the mat repeatedly," Keith groaned.

"That was voluntary. You like it when Shiro beats up on you." Lance cracked open his eyes at this sudden revelation, and rolled his head to look at Keith in wonderment. "You're a __masochist__ ," he said, scandalized.

Keith turned red. "What the __fuck__ ," he said.

"Can we not have this conversation over dinner?" Hunk asked. "I mean, we're all here, Lance. We can all hear you."

Allura said, "a masochist is one who likes pain, yes?"

"More like, derives pleasure from pain but yeah," Pidge said, stirring her spoon in her bowl. "That's the general idea."

"I see," Allura said thoughtfully.

Keith covered his eyes with one hand. "I'm going to kill you," he said, glaring at Lance.

"Go ahead and try," Lance said without moving his chin from the table. "I would welcome death. My only regret is I didn't get to enjoy my last cheeseburger."

"Okay, that's __enough__ ," Shiro said. "Keith, no." Keith put his bayard on the table and sighed dramatically. "Can we maybe have a meal that doesn't devolve into drama for once?"

"This isn't drama," Pidge said. "This is just about sex."

"That too," Shiro said. " _ _Keith.__ "

Keith folded his arms and slumped back in his chair, thwarted again, as Allura said, "well I, for one, find this all very fascinating. Human mating rituals are so different from Altean!"

Pidge smirked and leaned forward. "Well, we could always let you __observe__ one, Allura-"

"Pidge!" Shiro said, and the same time Keith and Lance went, "what?"

"Can we talk about something else?" Hunk ventured.

"Yes, let's talk about your poor performances this afternoon in the training simulator," Allura said pleasantly.

"Oh boy," Lance said very loudly and only a bit sarcastically. " _ _Thanks__ , Hunk."


	24. Chapter 24

When Shiro backed Lance against the corridor wall, Lance let him, felt his shoulders hit the cool white bulkhead, felt Shiro's hand on his face, tilting his head to just the right angle. Shiro wasn't __that__ much taller than him, but this action didn't incite the fight or flight reaction, just Lance's body rising away from the wall, one arm thrown over Shiro's shoulder as he gasped against his mouth.

He didn't want this to end, didn't want to think about it deeply, just wanted to keep devouring Shiro's mouth. His body trembled as Shiro's hand traced down his side, to the waist of his jeans, fingers working into the catch and opening the front, leaving his pants to hang loose on his hips. Lance didn't care, __couldn't__ , his mind was filled hazy and full with thoughts of Shiro, __Shiro-__

Lance wanted to say, __don't stop, don't,__ as Shiro's fingers pressed against the bulge in his underwear, circled it, drew it out – some part of his mind was reminding him they were in the corridor, in the open, and how embarrassing would it be for someone to walk __by__ right now, but Lance was if anything an expert at ignoring that part of his brain.

Keith's hand pressed his shoulder back into the wall, softer than it felt like a wall should be but Lance was too far gone to really care about that, until Keith's face got close, eyes narrowed and he hissed, "would you __stop__ that?"

Lance blinked his eyes open and stared at Keith, his hair sleep-tousled and expression definitely not pleased. The threads of his dream were already slipping away, and Lance dug the palm of his hand into his eye and said, "th' fuck did you __wake__ me for, I was having a __good__ dream-"

"Yeah, I __know__ ," Keith said, rolled up on his side beside Lance. "You were moaning real good an' loud, and I couldn't even sleep __through__ it this time." He shoved Lance in the shoulder, far too close in the dim light of the dark and Lance licked his lips, thought of the hot hand on his cock and shifted uncomfortably.

"Sorry my dreams were just too good to keep quiet on," Lance said sarcastically. "At least I didn't sleep-hump you."

"That happened __once__ ," Keith said, leaned in close, and Lance couldn't help himself, reaching out to touch Keith's face, settling his palm on Keith's jaw, thumb on the rise of his cheek. Keith froze in place, then narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"You're really..." Lance closed his eyes, more drowsy than not. " _ _Pretty.__ "

Keith went really, absolutely, still. He covered Lance's hand on his face and pulled it off slowly, which caused Lance to crack his eyes open again, especially when Keith very tentatively kissed the palm of Lance's held hand. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but Lance could guess he was probably pink.

"Idiot," Keith muttered. "I don't want to hear that from a __guy__."

"Not even from your boyfriend?" Lance murmured.

Keith hesitated and drew back a little. Lance rubbed his eyes and yawned and squinted at Keith, who was staring at him oddly. "Are you my..." Keith didn't seem to be able to get the word out, on the first try. "Boyfriend?"

"Well, yeah," Lance was very matter of fact about it. "You're sleeping in my bed right now, aren't you?"

"Boyfriend," Keith repeated again, turning the word over in his mouth. Then he leaned in close to Lance, so close that their noses brushed, and said softly, "I guess it's all right if you're my boyfriend, then."

"Mm, good," Lance said, and patted Keith's cheek. "We'll celebrate with a blow job or something in the morning."

Keith actually laughed, a soft laugh that made Lance smile, and then he tucked his head against Lance's mostly on his shoulder. He was still smiling when Lance drifted off again, arm thrown over Lance's chest and their heads tilted together.

* * *

Lance said, "Keith is my boyfriend," and Pidge said, "no fucking shit, Sherlock," and went back to soldering her robot.

Lance said, "Keith is my boyfriend," and Hunk smacked him on the shoulder and grinned and said, "it's about time."

Lance said, "Keith is my boyfriend," and Allura smiled and said, "that's wonderful, as long as it doesn't interfere with your duties."

Lance said, "Keith is my boyfriend," and Shiro paused just a moment before smiling and said, genuinely, "I'm glad."

Lance said, "Keith is my boyfriend," and Keith said, "if you don't stop saying that I'm going to punch out all your fucking __teeth.__ "

* * *

Shiro stood in the flight bay for the red lion and watched Keith tinker with the speeder he had found and claimed from the main launch bay. It was made only for atmospheric flight, so Shiro wasn't certain when he would have a chance to deploy it, but taking it apart and putting it back together again was giving a great lesson in Altean tech that they wouldn't get otherwise. "I've never seen Lance so ... __bubbly__ ," Shiro said, leaned back against what doubled as a workbench.

"Yeah," Keith grunted. He was sitting on the floor on the other side of the speeder facing Shiro, but he seemed not very interested in looking at Shiro. "It's really fucking annoying."

"He's happy, let him be happy," Shiro said lightly. Keith stuck his hand out and pointed to the workbench.

"Spanner," Keith said, and Shiro looked behind him, found the appropriate tool and handed it over to Keith, who promptly took it and flipped it in his hand once, before slapping it hard against one of the components of the bike. Shiro jumped at the loud crack, but it didn't seem to affect Keith, who frowned, turned the spanner over again and started to tighten something.

"He's off his heat, at least," Shiro said mildly, and rubbed a hand over his nose. "It's nice for things to get a bit back to normal in that regard."

Keith hesitated, and looked up at Shiro finally. "What do you think about all this," he asked, finally, tilting his head. "Me, and Lance?"

"I think you two are good for each other," Shiro said honestly. "You ground Lance, and Lance allows you open up more. It can only benefit the team that you're together." Shiro folded his arms, and the smile only seemed forced if you looked closely.

Keith was looking closely. "What about us?" he said.

Shiro shrugged his shoulders. "I don't want to interfere," he said. "I'm glad you're both happy."

"Even though we're both omegas. Together." Still watching closely, Keith laid the spanner on the ground next to his knee, and wiped his oil-covered hands on a rag. "On earth, it wouldn't be … ideal."

"We're not on earth," Shiro said, watching Keith just as closely as Keith was watching him.

"Even though I want you too," Keith said finally.

Shiro was silent for a long, long moment. "I don't think that's fair to Lance," he said finally. "Even if he was okay with it, I don't think-"

"Even though," Keith said this one slowly, cutting off Shiro. "Lance wants you to fuck him, too?"

It took a full, long moment for that to process. "What?" Shiro asked, in that high-pitched, squeaky way when someone doesn't really quite understand what they heard.

"He's been having dreams about it," Keith said. He looked away a moment, gathering himself, then back to Shiro on the other side of the half-built speeder bike. "He doesn't know he's been saying your name in his sleep. But I know."

"Lance __hates__ alphas."

"But not you." Keith pushed himself to his knees, in a preparatory step to gaining his feet. "If it was you, I think he'd be fine."

"What is it that you're suggesting, exactly?" Shiro asked, although he already knew, but he couldn't quite believe it, he wanted to hear Keith say it because there was no way this was actually happening.

Keith rubbed the back of his hand over his nose and left a streak of smudged oil. "I can't really suggest anything until we've both talked to Lance," he said finally. "But ... I guess that maybe you could be __our__ boyfriend, too?"


	25. Chapter 25

When Keith left the flight bay, it was well past dinner time. He'd skipped the meal in part because Hunk and Pidge had been knee-deep in attempting to interpret the data that Pidge was pulling from the memory core and that meant that dinner was likely made by Coran. And while Altean-specific cuisine was __unique__ in its primary flavor combinations, Keith was barely able to stomach it with a straight face on a regular day.

"Man, you __missed__ it," Lance said. He was sitting on the floor in the bedroom, legs spread impressively and leaned forward between them, stretching out. Keith stopped short in the open door, and immediately cupped his hand over the lower part of his face, because he'd never seen Lance stretching out like __this__ before. "I don't know what the hell it was that Coran made, but it tasted like __motor oil__."

"Sampled much motor oil?" Keith said as casually as he could manage, stepping around Lance and pulling his dirt-and-grime soaked shirt off as he did so. "That explains a lot."

"Yeah, it's a delicacy where I come from," Lance said, and rolled his eyes. "Where have __you__ been?"

"Flight bay." Keith looked into the drawer that popped out of the wall into which all dirty clothes got dumped, before shoving his shirt inside. "I was working on a speeder."

"Cool, cool." Lance was still stretching out, his legs spread like he was doing the splits. Keith looked over at him and then back again, because he wasn't capable of dealing with that at the moment, he had no idea Lance was __that__ flexible.

"So, um," Keith wasn't certain how to broach the subject. Shiro had agreed that he would let Keith talk to Lance first, and Shiro himself wasn't making any decisions yet either, which left Keith really nervous that despite his declarations he might still have to make a choice. He turned back to Lance, only to see now that Lance was typing something into the Altean-modified datapad Lance had stolen from Pidge. "...what are you doing?"

"Nothing," Lance said, typing furiously.

"That doesn't look like __nothing__ to me," Keith said, shucking off his gloves and dumping them into the chute behind his shirt.

After another moment of furious typing, Lance looked up and made a face. "Hunk bet me twenty bucks that we couldn't have a conversation without fighting about something."

"We have conversations all the time!" Keith spread his hands. "We're talking right now!"

"I know, right?" Lance said. "I mean, it's not like you can help you're ... well, __you__."

"What is __that__ supposed to mean?" Keith said flatly.

Lance shrugged. "Well, you're ..." he gestured at Keith with one hand outstretched, and held that position for a moment, clearly processing. Keith was already irritated, and was about to actually say something very rude and ruin the conversation when Lance started turning noticeably pink.

"Why are you blushing?"

"I'm not blushing!" Lance yanked his hand back and covered his face with his free hand, which did very little to cover the warm red tones that had crept up Lance's face and into his hairline.

"You __are__ blushing!" Keith said, and Lance let out a little embarrassed noise and dropped the datapad, covering his face now with both hands. "Why are you blushing?"

"I want whatever it is you've done to my brain to stop!" Lance said, and peeked between his fingers before blushing again and covering his face.

Keith was thoroughly lost, now. "What?"

"You're __hot__ ," Lance complained, still with his face (and eyes) covered. "You're covered in dirt and sweat and grime and you're really freaking attractive like that and it's __unfair.__ "

Keith looked down at himself a little self-consciously. "Really?" He'd never even thought that before, although he did need to get a shower in he'd stopped by the room first in the hopes of having A Certain Conversation with Lance and now he didn't know if he could steer the topic on course. "You're ... attractive, too. I guess."

"You __guess?__ " Lance dropped his hands and screeched a little. "You guess? Damn straight I'm attractive!" He slapped both of his palms on the floor between his spread legs. "I had girls all __over__ me at the academy!"

He was fairly certain this was a lie of some caliber, but Keith made a mental note to ask Hunk for certain. "If you had girls all over you, why were you so bad at sex?" Keith asked honestly.

The color that Lance's face turned defied description. "Fuck __you__!" he screeched, scrambling to his feet. "I'm not bad at sex! You scratched up my _ _back__ and __begged__ to get off!"

Those points were both true, and Keith was willing to admit to that. "But you could be better," he said.

Lance advanced on him, and shoved Keith in the shoulder. He was close to the wall as it was, it was a bare half-step back to it and Lance had him pinned, one hand slammed against the wall by his head. "You are __really__ pissing me off," Lance snarled.

"It's just honest criticism," Keith said. "I would expect you to tell me if I was performing inadequately."

Lance opened his mouth and closed his mouth again a few times. Then he hung his head and sighed dramatically. "Foreplay," he finally said. "You suck at foreplay, Keith."

There was a moment of silence as they stood there together, and Keith wet his lips, and knew exactly what he was asking when he said, "so why don't you show me?"

* * *

Shiro slammed the robot back with his prosthetic hand, and it blocked his next jab. He'd set the training level high because he'd wanted a hard workout, something to distract him one hundred percent from the thoughts that had been trailing through his mind ever since he had left the red lion's hanger, and so far the program had very much been doing its job.

One hard punch, a block, a parry, a leg sweep – Shiro kept pressing on mindless of the robot's programmed fight patterns. It was for the most part an excellent sparring partner, if only because he had no obligation to pull his punches even a little.

Keith had offered him so much on a plate, and he didn't know if he was strong enough to reject it. Keith and Lance being together was good for the team, they supported each other already, there was very little possible detriment ... but he couldn't see what good would come of it if he was involved. In fact, the negatives highlighted themselves in stark contrast to everything; especially in regards to Lance. Lance was afraid of alphas, full stop. This would just end poorly.

Shiro let out a yell of frustration as he caught another blow on his Galran arm and then used it to slam his fist through the torso of the robot. He could barely restrain himself as it was, where Keith was concerned. Two omegas, in heat, vying for his attention? Shiro wiped his face with the back of his left hand and panted aloud. A bad, __bad__ idea.

So why was he still considering it?

Shiro lifted his head and looked up at the ceiling. "Start training level six," he commanded, and this time, two of the sparring robots rose from the floor. Breathing hard through his open mouth, Shiro squared off.

* * *

Lance leaned over Keith in the bed, rubbing his fingers through the splatter of come that trailed up Keith's belly. "I told you," he said with a smirk, as Keith panted, red-faced. "And you didn't believe me."

"Sh-shut up," Keith groaned, and raised a hand to his face. Lance leaned forward again and applied his mouth to Keith's chest, tongue and teeth both, tracing around his nipple before firmly catching the nub between his teeth. Keith moaned and jerked a little, and Lance ran his hand back down to rub over the head of Keith's cock. "Fffffuck," Keith moaned, and raised his hips off the bed.

"Can't just jam it in when you're not in heat," Lance murmured into Keith's chest, correctly interpreting the action. "Gotta work up to it." He grinned as he felt Keith's fingers in his hair, coiling tight. "But we'll get to it," he promised. He pushed himself up a little so he could look into Keith's face, red and panting and still not yet satisfied. "Still think I'm bad at sex?" he teased, stroking Keith's cock one-handed.

"Y-yeah," Keith said, and closed his eyes and groaned when Lance squeezed him in retaliation. "Oh, __fuck-__ "

"Fine then," Lance said as he trailed his mouth lower, lapping at the fluid that had settled on Keith's skin. " _ _Be__ an ass, we'll see how that works out for you here in a bit-"

The rest of his sentence, and his thought, was abruptly interrupted by the emergency scramble siren.


	26. Chapter 26

Shiro was not the first to arrive on the bridge of the castle-ship. When he stepped off the lift, wearing his paladin suit and helmet tucked safely under his arm, Hunk was already standing on deck – fully dressed in his paladin suit as well, but not quite awake yet despite the proximity alarm still going off. Shiro patted his shoulder as he passed and Hunk straightened out of his slouch for a moment, then yawned hugely.

Allura stood at the helm, also dressed from her usual night clothes, hair tightly coiled and very few strands escaping, as if she had had all the time in the world to prepare for this scramble. Which, judging by the empty starfield on the forward display, was more than likely a training exercise. "What's going on?" he asked her, and Allura looked back as the lift opened again and spilled Pidge onto the bridge as well.

"We've received a distress call from a ship currently being pursued by a Galra scout ship," Allura said, and nodded to Coran, who pulled up the display. Several humanoid aliens were clustered around a video message, with furred complexions ranging in shades of browns to reds. "These Clawomians escaped through a blockade on their system but were pursued; their ship lacks the ability to create wormholes, but is more than fast enough to move between systems."

She gestured, and the display of aliens shimmered into a distant shot of a small craft, much smaller than the castle-ship, cutting across the highlight of a planet. A few moments later, a Galra ship loomed after it, much larger but still not a frigate.

"Why isn't the Galra ship firing?" Pidge asked.

Allura shook her head. "I'm not sure. But it is clearly in pursuit." They all looked up as the lift opened again, and this time Lance and Keith staggered out, fully dressed. Allura turned to them with a severe frown, clearly about to unload.

Shiro beat her to it. "Glad to see you could join us," he said sharply, then paused. Somehow, in the scramble of trying to get dressed and report to the bridge, Keith and Lance had switched helmets. Keith was wearing Lance's helmet, and Lance had Keith's tucked under his arm, and neither of them looked with it enough to notice. Pidge and Hunk both snickered, and Shiro sighed. Allura was appalled.

"Sorry we're late," Keith said, and did not elaborate further as to the reasons. "It won't happen again."

"Keith," Pidge said. "Lance has your helmet."

Keith looked over at Pidge, clearly confused by this, but Lance looked at the helmet under his arm, then his head snapped around very quickly to actually __look__ at Keith, then he turned red. Keith looked at Lance without comprehension, until Lance held up the red helmet and said, "you've got mine."

"Oh," Keith said, and took it off. They swapped helmets and then stood loosely at attention.

"Emergency alarms could occur at __any__ moment," Allura said. "You must __always__ be prepared." She gestured at the image on the screens of the small Clawomian ship. "They've been broadcasting a generalized help message; they clearly have no idea who is out there or even listening, so we must offer aid with due haste."

Hunk raised his hand. "So," he said, carefully. "What if it's a trap?"

Everyone looked to Hunk, clearly waiting on an explanation. "The Galra ship isn't firing on them," he said. "Doesn't that strike anyone else as a little odd?"

"Could be that they have something important on board," Pidge said with a small shrug.

"Or someone," Keith said. "Important."

"But why not use the tractor beam if that's the case?" Hunk shrugged, his hands wide. "It just smells a little fishy, guys."

"Hunk's got a point," Shiro said. "We have to proceed like this is a trap set specifically for us."

Lance shrugged. "So we form Voltron and smash the Galra ship, even if the Clawomack ship is a trap it's too small to be a danger, especially as Voltron."

"Clawomian," Allura corrected.

"If they're actually in danger, everyone wins. If they're bait, they're probably being used against their will, everyone wins." Lance put his free hand on his hip.

"The entire setup could be the bait," Keith said thoughtfully, and Shiro nodded.

"That's a scout ship, it doesn't have much in terms of firepower," Shiro said. "It isn't a match for Voltron, it's not even a match for our lions separately."

"We go out to destroy the scout ship, and a full-scale assault is unleashed from the frigate that's hiding off our sensors," Keith folded his arms. "That's an iffy prospect, that we would be able to handle that as we are now."

"So... we don't go out?" Hunk said, and Pidge shook her head.

"We can't __not__ go out," she said. "What if it's exactly what it looks like on the box, a bunch of refugees that broke through a barricade and escaped?"

"Pidge is right," Shiro said. "We're going to deploy. Lance, you and Pidge check out the Clawomian ship – escort it to the planet's surface. Keith, Hunk and I will take care of the scout ship." He glanced to Allura, who had her arms folded as well, she nodded her head. "Let's do this, team."

* * *

In the cockpit of the red lion, Keith brought up a video chat to the black lion. Shiro popped up on his screen, on the left display, concentrating more of flying than the contact. They were already in split formation, Shiro at the lead, headed toward the sleek, sick purple coloring of the Galra scout ship. "I thought I'd let you know," he said, knowing it was one hundred percent inappropriate but needing to get it out of his chest. "I haven't had a chance to talk to Lance yet. We were..." he didn't want to say it, even on a closed transmission. "... _ _busy.__ "

Shiro didn't glance at the feed itself. "This isn't the time for that," he said, and Keith nodded his head automatically. "But you can't let it interfere with this," Shiro added. "Our duties as paladins come first, no matter what."

"Yeah," Keith said softly, before he closed the transmission. "I know."

* * *

"Their IF/F beacon reads as Clawomian," Pidge reported as the green lion made a loop around the slowly spinning transport ship. One of the engines was most of the way burnt out - Lance's lion was scanning the ship, giving him an over-all report, including the information Pidge had just transmitted. Lance couldn't read Clawomian, but he was willing to be that Pidge had installed some form of language translation into the systems of her lion.

He shifted in his seat forward slightly, and felt the soft purr of the lion in response, almost amused. "Hey, you'd be uncomfortable too if you got epically blue-balled," he muttered, and Pidge said, "I didn't copy."

"Nothing," Lance said loudly. He knew good and well Pidge heard him, and pretended that she didn't. "Opening up transmission to the ship, let's hope the universal translator isn't borked."

Lance squared his shoulders and stared out the forward viewscreen, where the camera appeared to be located. "Clawomiack ship-"

" _ _Clawomian__ ," Pidge hissed.

"Clawomian ship, this is a paladin of Voltron. We heard your distress call and are here to help." He flipped the toggle on the communicator and a small rectangular portrait appeared in the upper left corner of his forward display – the Clawomians.

The one who addressed Lance spoke in clicks and whistles, which after a few seconds the universal translator caught up. "Much thank, Voltron-spirit," came through the line. "Cannot escape. Accepted."

"You can escape," Pidge said. "Our friends are engaging the Galran scout ship. You are no longer being pursued; we're here to escort you to the planet below."

There was a hurried conference in front of Lance's eyes as the Clawomians communicated faster than the translator could keep up. "Cannot survive planetfall," the red-furred one who had addressed Lance said. "Many wounds, engine cries."

"I think that their ship is too damaged to survive atmospheric entry," Pidge said.

"I got that, thanks," Lance said. "So what do we do?"

"I can take a look at it," Pidge said, flying the green lion closer and turning the wide-band communicator on. "I'll board the ship, see what I can do."

"Not alone," Lance said. "What if it IS a trap?"

"Well there's only two of us, Lance," Pidge said. "You need to watch my lion so that no one grabs it until I get back." That said, the small single-person speeder ejected from the green lion and headed determinedly toward the Clawomian crap.

"Oh man oh man," Lance said sharply under his breath. "I do __not__ like this."


	27. Chapter 27

The Galran scout ship was a small vessel, in comparison to the larger ships Keith had seen before. "It won't have much of anything to deploy," Shiro said over the open communications channel. "Scout ships are made for speed, not skirmishes. Most of the firepower will be concentrated on the forward portion of the ship, so try not to get tagged. The tractor beam will be up there, too."

The red lion had pulled up enough data about the quickly-growing ship on his forward viewscreen that he could quickly corroborate everything Shiro was saying. "What about its particle shield?" he said, and the yellow lion shifted course, looping away from them both.

"I'm on it," Hunk said, heading directly toward the aft portion of the ship. Keith watched as the yellow lion rebounded off the shield, causing a flurry of colorful sparks to ripple and ionize. He could have __told__ Hunk that was going to be the outcome, when Hunk said through the channel, "it's not a very strong particle shield; look at how long it took to restore from impact."

The action made several of the plasma turrets on forward part of the ship swivel and start to fire at Hunk. "Keith!" Shiro ordered, and without question Keith slammed the red lion forward, rushing past the yellow lion and drawing a somewhat confused line of fire from the weapons as they rushed and reoriented on the potential new threat.

"This shield can't handle multiple points of impact," Hunk shouted as all three lions flew quickly around the Galran vessel, causing it to pitch slowly and roll, trying to keep the plasma cannons along its belly lined up with the much-quicker flight paths of the paladins.

"On your mark then, Hunk," Shiro said, the black lion sweeping past Keith and headed directly toward the belly of the ship.

"On my-? Okay," Hunk said. Keith directed the red lion toward the engines, as Hunk counted off. "On my mark, three, two-!"

The impact of the red lion into the particle shield that protected the Galran scout ship's engines was hard enough that Keith was slammed against his seat. He kept his hands on the controls, though, even as Hunk whooped. "One more time!"

This time a colorful spray of sparks exploded across the face of the red lion. Keith heard Hunk's war whoop seconds before the particle barrier evaporated, leaving behind a faint glittering shadow of its scope. "Shields are down," Keith reported, as Shiro acknowledged.

"Good job, Hunk," Shiro said, as Keith headed determinedly for the engines. If they could disable the ship, maybe they could learn more about the Galrans and their plans, but before Keith could get a chance to even fire a weapon the engines started exploding, one after the other. He yanked back on his controls and pulled a 180 out and away from the back of the ship. "Great shots, Keith!"

"That wasn't me!" Keith hit several of the toggles that appeared on the dashboard in front of the seat whenever the lion was active, and felt the red lion rumble around him. That had been close, and he wouldn't be surprised if the lion's tail was a bit singed. "Sorry buddy," Keith said, boths hands back on the controls. "I'll make it up to you."

He could feel the red lion react to that, and Keith yanked both of the flight controls back toward him. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

The aft of the Clawomian ship was badly damaged; dark with carbon scoring from multiple plasma weapon strikes. In several spots the hull was breached. Bulkheads must have been closed and sealed from the inside, securing the ship's atmosphere; but re-entry was out of the question with hull integrity compromised. " _ _Shit,__ " Pidge said emphatically.

"Shit's not good," Lance said over the open channel.

"No it's not." Pidge's helmet had closed around her face, sealing to her suit so that she could eject from the speeder and inspect the damage as much as she could. "Their main engine core must be damaged, only the auxiliary engines are running. The hull's compromised, too." She put the fingers of her glove into the breech, it was small enough that she couldn't even get her hand through. It was more than enough to vent the entire ship's atmosphere and kill everybody on board if the pressurized seal of the bulkhead didn't hold. "We've got to get them to the castle-ship, it's their only hope."

"Uh," Lance said suddenly. "I think that might be out of the question. Pidge, get back to your lion."

Pidge looked up and back from the hull of the Clawomian ship, inclining her head back in time to see the massive Galran battleship appear between them and the castle-ship on the edge of the system. It wasn't fear that curled in her stomach at the immense ship's design, but Pidge inhaled quickly. "That's bad," she said.

"Way to win understatement of the year," the blue lion shot around the Clawomian ship, putting itself between the small cargo ship and the massive bulk of the battleship. "Get back to your lion, Pidge!"

"I can't leave them," Pidge said, using the rockets on the back of her suit to skim along the surface of the ship. "If I can get the primary engine running they can at least get this ship to the castle-ship."

"Well whatever it is you plan to do, do it quick," Lance snapped. "Things are gonna get ugly fast, and we need to form Voltron!"

"Right," Pidge said, as she followed along the breech, to find it split through a pressurization hatch. She pulled the damaged hatch open, and floated into the ship properly, tapping the controls on her arm as she went and opening a channel to the Clawomian ship itself. If the engine protocol on this was different than the pods on the castle-ship, she was going to have to learn it and __fast__ to get it running, and the best way to do that was to speak to their engineers directly. "This is the green paladin," she said, addressing the ship. "I need any available ship engineers to cycle me through the airlock, and take me to the engine."

* * *

"We're screwed," Hunk said.

"We're not screwed," Keith said, bringing the red lion up and around the Galran scout ship. The engine detonation had left the ship dead in the water, so to speak, no lights and no activity from the plasma cannon. There was also, tellingly, no response from Shiro. Keith inhaled. "Lance, Pidge, get your butts over here!"

"Kinda busy at the moment," Pidge's voice sounded strained.

"That is one large ship," Hunk said. "Oh look, something's coming out of the ship."

Keith shook his head once, not bothering to switch the communications channel over to check on Shiro, they didn't have the time. "Princess, any idea what's coming?"

The reply was garbled and cut up, but he could make out some syllables, one of which sounded like 'drones.' "Good," Lance said dryly. "They've got long distance jammers. __Today__ , Pidge!"

There was no immediate response. "What is she doing?" Hunk asked.

"Trying to get their engine at full capacity so they can make it to the castle ship," Lance said. "The engines are damaged and the hull's breached, it probably won't survive atmospheric re-entry."

"Today just keeps getting better and better," Keith said. "Shiro, what's the plan?"

There was another moment of radio silence, stretched just long enough that Keith had his heart in his throat, but then Shiro's voice came through the communicator, strong and solid. "If Pidge is helping with the engines, she's out of the green lion. We cannot let a lion fall into Galran hands; Keith you hang back with Lance and protect the ship and Pidge's lion. Hunk, you're with me."

"Seriously?" Hunk said. "All of that?" There was a beat and Hunk apparently made his peace with the plan, trusting Shiro. "All right."

"Not all right!" Keith said. He yanked back on the throttle hard, and the red lion shot forward into space, headed straight for the glittering mass that was quickly resolving into drone-piloted starfighters. "Lance can protect the green lion, you need all the firepower you can get! C'mon, Hunk!"

"Keith!" Shiro yelled, as the yellow lion shot off after Keith without hesitation. The black lion hung back for a few heartbeats before he followed as well.

"Oh, come __on__ Pidge," Lance said, both of his hands tight on the flight controls as some of the drone starfighters broke off and headed in their direction. "We're running out of time!"

* * *

Only one Clawomian met Pidge at the airlock. Clawomians appeared to be smaller than Pidge had guessed, this one only stood slightly taller than she was. It was mottled red-furred, with large eyes and a flat nose, and ears that were tied together and laid loose down its back. It waved a three fingered hand at her and clicked and whistled frantically, and the universal translator could barely keep up. "Much ship, many stars. Engine sleeps. Time runs."

"Yeah, I know, clock's ticking," Pidge made to touch the bottom of her helmet to at least slip it off so she wouldn't feel as claustrophobic, but the sensor on the helmet's HUD warned her the air levels were low. "Where's the engine? I bet we can get this baby running in no time."

The Clawomian gestured and Pidge followed. "Paladin small," it said. "Many hearts. Brave."

" _ _Pidge__ ," Lance said. "You've got maybe five minutes before shit and fan come together in a __giant fucking mess.__ "

"Right," Pidge said aloud as they entered the engine room at a dead run. "We've got this. Just keep them busy, Lance!"

"Yeah," Lance said from the blue lion, watching his targeting map turn red with a swarm of fighters headed his way. "I'll just keep'em busy. Why didn't __I__ think of that?"


	28. Chapter 28

It only took three minutes for Pidge to realize that there was no saving the cargo ship's engines. The main drive was damaged beyond repair – the Clawomian named Nrr had helped her to the best of his abilities but there was nothing that could be done. The auxiliary drives were running near-critical levels, there was no way they'd get this ship past the Galran battleship.

She slapped both of her hands on a control panel and stared at the readouts, the script foreign. The same translator unit that operated in her helmet to help her understand the communications of alien species also presented a literal translation of foreign characters displayed on the inside of her visor, and they told her the same thing Nrr had. They were dead in the water, so to speak. "We've got a problem," she reported through the open communications channel. "I can't get the engine running again. It's been damaged too badly, the core is beyond repair." She looked over at the short, red-furred Clawomian. "How many of you are on board?"

Nrr raised a three-fingered hand. "Six ninths."

"Great," Pidge said.

"Lacking fledglings. Nine ninths."

"Pidge, we're out of time!" Lance's voice went high with stress. "Get __out__ here!"

She pressed her hand to the side of her helmet, as if that would help her hear, or think better. "There's almost a hundred of these guys on board," she said sharply. "I'm not abandoning them." She spun around the engine room, stared at a bulkhead that grimy grey and yellow, and then her eyes widened. "I have an idea!"

* * *

The waves of Galran drone starfighters were endless.

Shiro's hands were tight on the controls. The ships were smaller than any of the lions, and came in wings of four, plasma cannons spitting a wave of fire that they were hard pressed to dodge. Every glance he spared to his targeting map didn't show individual targets, just a solid cluster of red. "There has to be at least four hundred of these things," Hunk's voice sound desperate.

"They're drone ships though," the red lion cut a graceful arc across the screen, with two flights on his six. He juked left and down and there was the brief flicker of explosions as several of the drone ships collided with each other, burning up brilliantly as the explosion's fury was quickly muted by the vacuum of space. "They're trying to overwhelm, because they can't out fly us!"

"There's no way that we can take them all out," Shiro said. The black lion ran alongside the far edge of the skirmish, head pointed toward the Galran battleship that cut an imposing figure across his forward viewscreen. "We've got to take out the transmitter on the ship, that will kill the communications lines to the drones."

"Great. You do realize the particle shield on a battleship that size will be just a little bit stronger than one on a scout ship, right?" Hunk said. The yellow lion took some hits and he yelped, slamming through some drone starfighters bodily and leaving a mess of brief explosions and wreckage in his wake.

"Plus the Galra ship has tractor beams," Keith said. "We do NOT want to get caught up in that." There was a pause. "Tractor beams can't operate through a particle shield. Can they, Shiro?"

Shiro wasn't even conscious of lifting his right hand off the control, until he realized how tightly he was clenching it. "They're going to target me first – we won't have a large window to work with, especially with the drones. Hunk, I'll paint a target on the main transmitter, that's likely to be the origin of the drone's feed. Keith, take out as many other transmitters and plasma cannons as you can while the shields are down; one of them has to be the long-distance jammer. The more drones you can drag with you that will hit the ship, the better."

"Shiro," Hunk said, and Shiro could hear the entire question in just his name. He was surprised that Keith hadn't said anything, but didn't let that surprise distract him much.

"I'll be fine," he said. "They'd have to tag me with the tractor beam first."

"I can't let you do this, Shiro!" Keith said, and __there__ it was, the desperation heavy in his voice.

"You don't get a choice," Shiro said, pressing some of the buttons on the console before him. "While any of the lions would be a prize to Zarkon, there's a premium on my head." He smiled grimly. "Besides, it's not like we're surrendering." A spray of plasma fire from the yellow lion as Hunk passed by took out a whole row of drone starfighters. "Keep on my six," Shiro said. "We're only gonna get one chance at this!"

* * *

Lance saw the small blip on the screen that was the green lion's speeder shooting away from the Clawomian cargo ship. "It's about time," he said as Pidge popped up on his screen in a visual feed. He was currently doing a long loop of the ship, dragging about seven drone fighters after himself and keeping as many as he could occupied and not clustering around the disabled ship or the currently pilot-less green lion. "We've got to join up with the others."

"Can't do that," Pidge said, then touched another communications key, which opened up the feed to the Clawomian ship. "Nrr, do you copy?"

"Nrr here, paladin."

"Did you get everyone to the front of the ship?"

"Much crowd, many upset."

Pidge nodded. "I think that's a yes." She looked up at the camera, to Lance. "I'm going to seal the breach on the ship, we're going to try for atmospheric entry. If we survive this, I'll be back up as quick as I can."

"'If' - wait, __we__? Pidge, what are you doing?" Distracted, the blue lion was slammed by several plasma bolts at once, and it pitched forward, slamming Lance down into the cockpit's seat with the force of it. By the time he reoriented and regained control, the Clawomian ship was much smaller on his screen. He turned the blue lion back toward it, his back toward the Galran battleship.

"There's no quick way to close the breach," Pidge said casually. "The stress of the fracture weakened the hull all around it. So I'm going to clamp it and hold it with the green lion." The cargo ship was bigger than the lion, but not by much. "Nrr, open the communications, brace for impact!"

Lance opened his mouth to yell at Pidge again, but then the green lion slammed into the side of the cargo ship, and the action was enough to roll the ship. With the thrusters pointed out from the green lion, Pidge actually started pushing the ship toward the glow of the planet below them. He turned the lion and looked up, and saw the pulse coming from the battleship in the distance.

There wasn't a whole lot of time to think, only to react; and react the blue lion did, as if Lance hadn't even touched the controls. It shot forward in space, leaving the drones behind in an instant, putting itself between the huge plasma bolt shot by the Galran ship and the Clawomian cargo ship.

"Pidge-" Lance got out before the impact. The blue lion was hit across the back half, killing its thrusters and engine. All the lights on the lion went out at once, and it spun, out of control, past the cargo ship at a high rate of speed.

" _ _Lance!__ " Pidge yelled, but couldn't do anything but watch as the green lion held the breached hull of the cargo ship together. "Lance! Do you copy? _ _Lance!__ "

* * *

Shiro was right about the particle shield lowering to let the tractor beam loose. And he was also right in that the black lion was the first target for the Galran battleship. However, he __wasn't__ right about the black lion's ability to evade or break the hold of the tractor beam, and the black lion was caught in the beam and being drawn in to the Galran ship.

The yellow lion's firepower had made short work of several transmitters. "Save the drone transmitter for last!" Keith knew he was yelling, didn't care; the panic in his chest had expanded, evicted the air from his lungs and kept the adrenaline high. His red lion was running the length of the ship, picking up drones targeting him like nettles in a thicket. His plan wasn't really much of one, but the black lion didn't seem to be communicating, and Keith couldn't tell if the systems were overridden or if Shiro was intentionally silent, so he had to do this on his own.

Dragging so many drones, he was taking heavy fire and he could __feel__ the way the lion was hurting. Keith held the controls tight. "I know," he said distractedly. "I __know__ , trust me on this, Red!"

Looping around the far side of the ship, dodging more drones and the backwash of engines bigger than the scout ship, he could clearly see the black lion again, hanging in space and being drawn slowly in toward a glowing purple docking bay. Small explosions could be seen along the top ridge of the ship, along with plasma shots as Hunk darted around and caused as much trouble as possible. "I've got a lock on the drone transmitter," Hunk said. "Whatever it is you're planning to do Keith, do it fast!"

This was stupid, and risky, and Keith didn't even hesitate. He slammed the thrusters to full, and shot into the tractor beam from the side, between the black lion and the docking back. It was like hitting a brick wall, and he was thrown forward in his seat, hard enough against the restraints he knew he'd be bruised even under the armor. "Now, Hunk!" he yelled.

The drone transmitter went up in an incandescent explosion. Keith braced hard, as the drones hit the tractor beam behind him, slamming into the back of the red lion and the side of the black lion. Some missed, but most impacted, going up in small chains of explosions. Keith felt the tractor beam flicker; it was too much content, the explosions and the drones both, and the beam faltered – and went out. "Shiro!" Keith yelled as the black lion came to life and did a loop away from the beam, flying close along the belly of the ship.

"I found the long-range jammer!" Hunk said gleefully, shooting it as well. All at once their communication channel was slammed with volume – Allura yelling hoarsely for the paladins, some kind of report, Coran's voice reading information off as quickly as he could, and Pidge's voice, screaming Lance's name-

Keith's head snapped around to the planet, now above him. The scout ship was a distant blip, the Clawomian cargo ship even smaller – streaks around that, as it started its descent into the atmosphere. "Pidge?" he said, frantic. "What happened to Lance, where is he-"

"His lion's down! He's not responding!"

Staring hard at the planet, Keith saw the almost miniscule speck, kilometers away from the cargo ship now and falling fast. "Lance!" he yelled into the communicator uselessly. Without a thought he pushed his lion to full. "Lock on the blue lion," he yelled to it. "Don't let it out of your sight!"

"Keith!" Shiro's voice through the comm, a little ragged. Keith ignored him. "Shit, Hunk – follow Pidge down, make sure the ship gets to safety!"

"Copy!" the yellow lion wasn't as fast as the red lion, but the profile of the cargo ship was still enough to make out even without being locked on to.

Allura's voice filled their communications line, and her image popped on screen to Keith's right, he slammed his hand down on the switch that killed visual communications without even looking at it. "Paladins, report! What is going on out there!? Paladins!"


	29. Chapter 29

There was still no response from the blue lion. It spun slowly, streaks of red and orange around it as it made awkward entry into the large planet's atmosphere. It was growing larger on Keith's viewscreen quickly, and he had to make a decision fast. If he had the red lion just grab on, he ran the risk of destroying the blue lion; a limb or tail could come off at this rate of speed.

Raising Lance on the communicator was not happening. Keith tried not to think about it. The closer he got he saw the blue armor burnt and carbon-scored, large gouges missing from the back end of the hull and its rear legs. It didn't look structurally compromised, though all the exterior running lights were gone and off.

He pushed his lion forward harder, felt the strain of it as he entered the atmosphere at a high rate of speed, and then pushed her even farther, past the blue lion. Keith turned the red lion, so he could see that he was ahead of Lance, and then righted it, hitting the reverse thrusters and bracing for the impact as the blue lion body-checked the red one.

If it weren't for the restraint webbing, Keith would have gone flying from his chair at the impact, it was that violent. He ignored the pained shudder of the lion and concentrated on the reverse thrusters, kicking them to full and hanging on tight.

"Keith!" Shiro's voice on the communicator in his ear, heard above the violence happening outside the cockpit of the red lion. He tilted his head back, to the viewscreen above him, where he could see the blue lion, and then he felt the double impact of the black lion, hitting the blue one from the rear. "I'm flaring the black lion," Shiro said. "To increase drag, you keep holding the reverse thrusters open!"

As Keith watched he saw the huge paws of the black lion clamp to the shoulders of Lance's blue lion, and beyond that, the spread of the large, red wings attached to the black lion. Instantly, they jerked again.

It was still free fall, but more controlled at this point. The blue lion was no longer hurtling out of control toward the planet's surface, with the two other lions bracing him between them they had managed to salvage the situation as best they could. Now, Keith just had to worry about landing this damn thing, because __that__ wasn't going to be pretty.

* * *

Shiro gripped both the controls, the reverse-thrust turned to full and the drag on the spread wings of the black lion slowing everything considerably. There were all sorts of red warning lights and sirens flashing along the right side of his viewscreen but he ignored them, holding tight and gritting his teeth.

The landscape of the planet below was quickly resolving itself in greens and blues and golds. Keith was the one in control of the angle of entry and descent, and while they had slowed considerably they were still free falling. Shiro didn't let up on the controls to open the comm again, he had to trust that Keith wouldn't direct the column of lions directly into a mountain.

Coniferous green forests spread below them, transitioning to scrubland fast and then Keith was on the comm. "On my mark, release him!"

Shiro didn't stop and question, just reacted. He released the blue lion and with the weight released the black lion flung backward, going tail over teakettle in mid-air before he could regain his equilibrium. The red lion was still bracing the blue lion, but as Shiro balanced and brought his viewscreens to bear, he saw Keith slip out from underneath as well, and the blue lion slammed into soft sand, cutting a deep scar through dunes and coming to rest with its front half splashing into shallow surf on one of the planet's beaches.

Shiro set down the black lion not far from where Keith dropped the red lion into the sand, and he didn't even bother with the speeder, barely waiting for the winch to fully drop him onto the beach. Shiro watched Keith run across the beach, heart pounding and chest heaving, before he flung himself out of the pilot's seat and ran for the exit of the black lion.

* * *

Pidge stayed in the green lion as the Clawomians poured out of their damaged ship. The terrain where they had managed to land was rocky, a patch where the deep, thick forests meet mountains. "This place is gorgeous," Hunk said, the yellow lion landing beside Pidge. "It reminds me of home."

"Yeah." Pidge agreed. She couldn't spot Nrr among the mass of red and pink fur, aliens grateful to be alive after escaping the wrath of the Galran empire. She looked up at the sky; the battleship was massive enough that it could be seen with the naked eye, even from this distance.

"Shiro and Keith are reporting that they touched down on a beach," Allura's voice said in Pidge's ear. "You must join them quickly."

"Pidge?" Hunk asked softly, and she realized she hadn't responded yet, still staring above, as if the fury of her glare alone was enough to bring the battleship down. "We copy, Princess," Hunk said.

She punched the open communicator so that she could broadcast her words down to the Clawomians. "Find shelter," she said. "As far away from your ship as you can. We'll come back."

That said she turned the green lion, and leaped into the air. Hunk followed, leaving the Clawomians amassed on the rocky surface, alone.

* * *

Keith was almost to the water's edge when he saw some of the lights activate on the blue lion. Not all of them, but the eye lit up, and the head, half-submerged in the crystal-blue water, opened its mouth. He hesitated a moment, until he saw Lance slide awkwardly out of the mouth and into the shallows, and then Keith splashed into the shallows himself. "Lance!"

Lance raised a hand awkwardly, clearly having trouble sloshing through the thigh-deep water. "Now I know what a spin cycle feels like," he said weakly, green about the gills. "I don't recommend-"

Whatever he was about to say was lost as Keith hit him full in the chest, arms over his shoulders and knocking him off balance. They both got doused by a wave, before Keith shouted __"fucker!__ " and punched him square in the chest plate with a fist.

" _ _Ow__ ," Lance said, and they got doused by another wave.

Shiro stood at the water's edge, picking up Keith's helmet from where he'd torn it off his head and left it in the soft sand. He smiled as Keith held Lance's head in both hands, even though Lance was yelling, "no, no, don't-" before being silenced by Keith's mouth.

"You should both get out of the water," Shiro called, as Keith gagged and spat into the ocean, then smacked Lance in the chest plate again.

"I tried to warn you," Lance said, as Keith dragged him to his feet and then marched out of the waves, one hand on Lance's wrist and pulling him along. Water poured out of the seams in their armor. "I threw up like, three times. My internal compensator went offline with the rest of the systems." He laughed weakly, and wiped his hand over his mouth as they trudged out of the water. "It's a mess in there, my lion's gonna be so upset once we get her back online..."

"Lance," Keith said, as they stood in the ankle-deep water. Lance looked over at him. This time, when he kissed Lance, he didn't jerk away and spit, and Lance closed his eyes and melted against Keith, arms going around him.

After a solid minute of this Shiro coughed into his hand politely, and when that didn't elicit a response, said firmly, " _ _guys.__ "

"Oh good, Lance's not dead," Pidge's voice came over Shiro's communicator, as he was the only one still actually wearing his helmet.

The green lion and Hunk's yellow lion set down on the beach opposite the red and black lions. Their landing blew sand every which way, which Keith and Lance had to shield their faces for. "What about the blue lion?" Hunk asked. "We can't form Voltron if the blue lion is out of commission!"

"Well you'll have to think of something," Allura said over their communicators. "Can someone tell Lance to put on his helmet so I can walk him through a manual reboot of his lion's systems?"

"Better yet, I can do it," Pidge said, exiting her lion. She ran across the sand toward them. "We won't have a lot of time before the Galran battleship starts deploying actual soldiers at us." She drew up short, because Lance and Keith still had their arms around each other, although they had stopped kissing they were both soaked with seawater. "Ugh," Pidge said, looking at them, and wrinkled her nose.

"Hey," Keith said. "I'm allowed to kiss my boyfriend!" Lance turned very pink.

Shiro coughed again, although this time it was clearly to cover a relieved laugh.

Pidge made another, long groaning noise and gestured at the blue lion. "Come on, Lance," she said. "Let's reboot your lion and see if we can get its systems online." She tapped the side of her helmet. "Where do we start, Princess?"


	30. Chapter 30

"Oh my god," Pidge said, one hand covering the bottom half of her face. "I thought it was __Hunk__ who had the motion sickness."

It wasn't really as bad as Pidge was making it out to be, Lance knew, but it was still a little bit gross. It's not like the lions came equipped with barf bags, after all. "Okay, __you__ try riding your lion down with all external systems out and internal compensation shot with full G-forces and spin, and see how smug you are __then.__ "

"No thank you," Pidge said, as she climbed around and imposed on Lance's space in the pilot's chair. "Let's get your lion rebooted so that we can get a full diagnostic going. If you're grounded we're going to have to figure out a way to take on a full Galran battleship without Voltron." She was matter-of-fact about it, but to Lance it felt like a targeted attack.

"Yeah, sure," he said as she touched a few buttons on the virtual display. "Whatever."

Pidge hesitated, leaning over his lap. "You risked yourself to save me and the Clawomians," she said. The way she was tilted Lance couldn't see Pidge's face.

"No need to thank me," Lance said with a light tone, puffing out his chest a bit.

Pidge tilted back and smacked Lance with a closed fist in the arm. "You can't just sacrifice yourself like that, you have to think about the team!"

Lance blinked a little at that. "I __was__ thinking about the team," he said truthfully.

Pidge stared at him hard through the visor of her helmet, brows pulled together in a thoughtful frown. Then she looked away and tapped the side of her helmet as if that helped hear Allura's voice easier. "We're both in the cockpit," she reported. "Lance barfed all over the controls but I think we can still make things work."

He couldn't hear Allura's response, as his helmet was sitting on the floor in need of a cleaning. "Barfed," Pidge repeated. "He vomited all over the controls. Yes, ew." Pidge looked back at Lance and grinned. "Yes, he'll wash the blue lion out from stem to stern when we get back to the ship. After a very long shower. Yeah, okay."

Lance folded his arms in the seat as Pidge leaned over him again and started pressing buttons. Hunk climbed in to the cockpit behind them. "How's it going in here – __whoa__ ," he said.

"I don't want to hear it," Lance leaned back and looked at Hunk. "Especially not from y _ _ou__. __You__ threw up in the simulator."

"Yeah, but not in my __lion__ ," Hunk was aghast. He too had removed his helmet, the long tails of his bandana flipped forward over his shoulder. "Shiro wanted to see you for a moment, if you aren't needed."

"He's not going anywhere for a bit," Pidge said. "Lance, try to talk to your lion."

"Right now?" Lance said, and Pidge pressed two buttons at the same time and nodded. "Out loud?"

" _ _Lance,__ " Pidge said, sounding quite frustrated.

"Okay, okay," Lance said, and cleared his throat. "Um, hi, girl," he said awkwardly, and Hunk rolled his eyes and snorted. "What, do you think __you__ could do better?" Lance snapped, looked up at him.

"Talk to the lion like you talk to Keith," Hunk suggested and grinned when Lance rolled __his__ eyes.

"Yeah, because __that__ won't end with all of us ejected into the ocean," Lance retorted.

"Not like __that__ ," Pidge said, and grinned a grin that could only be described as malicious. "How do you talk to him when it's just you two? You know. _ _Alone.__ "

Lance snorted. "I don't need __you__ to tell me how to talk to my lion. I'm just nervous with you guys hanging here and making fun of me." He inhaled and closed his eyes. He remembered that beat, that single beat of a moment during training where he connected with his lion before he lost that connection, and tried to pull at it again. "C'mon, buddy," he said softly, eyes still closed tight and hands resting on the flight controls. "Talk to me…"

* * *

Shiro stood on the beach, well away from the waves with Keith. Keith sat in the dune grass, his hair still wet and matted to his head, helmet in his hands. They were both looking skyward, waiting quietly. "There doesn't seem to be any civilization on this world," Coran's report had come through Shiro's earpiece. "No remnants of culture, either."

"At least we don't have to worry about any one or thing getting hurt," Shiro said, his eyes on the sky. Keith spun his helmet between his fingers, staring down at it. The paladin armor was more or less waterproof, so while his wet hair clung to the back of his neck, it didn't drip down any further than that. Keith spun around his helmet one more time, and spoke without looking up.

"You were going to let the Galra take you."

Even without looking over at Shiro, he could tell that he physically reacted to the words. "What?" Shiro said, stunned.

"The tractor beam didn't disable my lion," Keith said, eyes still on the helmet dangling between his hands. "I couldn't move, not until the drones started breaking up the beam's pull; but my comms and sensors and everything were open and unaffected." He looked up finally, at Shiro – and Shiro had turned to look away, toward the ocean. "So either you were going to surrender, or you panicked."

Shiro heaved a heavy sigh. "Is that what you want to hear?"

"Not particularly," Keith said. He stood up and tucked his helmet under his left arm, and turned to face Shiro properly. "You didn't have to offer yourself as bait. We could have come up with a different plan. Hunk or I could have done the same. You don't have to put yourself in that situation-" Keith touched Shiro's shoulder, and he flinched away for a moment. " _ _Shiro__ ," Keith said softly.

Shiro took off his helmet – whatever he wanted to say he didn't want broadcast over the open communications channel. "I can't panic," he said without looking at Keith. "I __can't.__ I can't be the head of Voltron and freeze up like that, there are too many people counting on me for this."

This time when Keith's hand touched Shiro's shoulder, he didn't flinch away. Keith gripped his shoulder hard, although he figured that Shiro couldn't really feel it through the armor. He didn't say anything really, because he didn't know __what__ to say, but just squeezed and hoped that Shiro could understand through this connection everything he couldn't put to words. Shiro lifted his head and smiled in a pained way at Keith, and Keith felt the expression curl into his chest and harden.

With absolutely no warning, the blue lion jerked suddenly and flung itself upright and half into the air before slamming down into a crouch in the water and letting out a roar. Shiro and Keith startled apart, and Keith's bayard was in his hand in reaction to the interruption, but they both heard Pidge's distressed yells through their helmets, loud enough to be clearly identifiable without their helmets on their heads.

"Looks like Lance has got his lion up and running," Shiro said unnecessarily, as Keith tucked his bayard away. The blue lion crouched down low to the surf, and Pidge and Hunk both tumbled out of its open mouth, Lance not far behind, dropping into the shallow water, helmet in his hand. They watched him rinse his helmet out a few times, then jog up the beach behind Hunk and Pidge.

"That didn't take as long as I thought," Shiro said.

"Yeah, well, if you were in a cockpit that stank of puke you'd pull double-time too," Pidge said, and rubbed her hand under her nose.

"The Galra haven't made a move yet, have they?" Hunk asked, and Shiro reached up and settled his helmet back on his head, to confirm with Allura that the Galra ship was remaining in far orbit of the planet.

"They're probably scanning the planet for us," Lance said. "Even a massive battleship's sensors takes a little bit to scan an entire __planet__."

"Or I destroyed their antenna to scan," Hunk said proudly.

Pidge nodded her assent. "I don't know that that's it," Shiro said, after confirming with Allura that the battleship hadn't deployed any additional ships. "It's strange – especially if you destroyed that particular sensor array on the outside of the ship, they would at least deploy a scout ship to see what we're doing planetside. I don't like it."

"So what's the plan, then?" Lance asked, holding his helmet upside down and shaking it, trying to dry it that way. "We load up, form Voltron, smash the crippled ship into pieces and exit the system with the Clawomians in tow?"

Pidge shook her head. "The Clawomians mean to stay here. This is a good planet, away from the fighting. Nrr said as much."

"It wouldn't work anyway," Hunk said, and everyone looked at him. "If we destroy the ship, then any Galrans that evacuate land planet-side. That's trouble for the Clawomians."

"If their communications system is operational, they would have transmitted our location, and that of the Clawomians," Keith said. "They can't stay here."

"The Clawomians weren't their target," Shiro said. "We were. That's why they didn't shoot down the clearly disabled ship. They wanted us __here__."

Everyone grew quiet. "So what do we do?" Hunk asked.

"We form Voltron," Shiro said. "We take down the ship, or drive it back. We'll deal with the rest as it comes."

Everyone nodded and pulled on their helmets. Lance stuck his hand out in the middle of them. "Go Team Voltron!" he said enthusiastically.

After a moment, Hunk put his hand on top of Lance's. Pidge followed suit, and after hesitating, Shiro and finally Keith did as well. "Go Team Voltron," Shiro said with a smile, and then everyone said it, overlapping, and louder than the last. "Everyone to their lions," Shiro ordered. "We have a Galra ship to bring down!"


	31. Chapter 31

"It does appear that Hunk's strafing run did quite a lot of damage to the top half of the battleship," Coran reported over the open communications channel, from behind Allura. The video feed had reestablished with the jammer signal destroyed, and Allura was looking forward, at the display of all five paladins in their cockpits. "There have been no broadcasts of any sort - at least, that we can detect – since the sensor arrays were destroyed."

"Way to go, Hunk!" Lance called with enthusiasm over the comm. Everyone congratulated Hunk over the channel, and Hunk beamed a bit. Allura smiled despite herself.

"That means not even a distress call could have gone through, right?" Pidge asked, leaned forward in her seat.

"We can't know for certain," Allura said.

"We have to assume that the ship broadcast its position and intentions back to the empire before it engaged us," Shiro said firmly. The five lions had exited the atmosphere of the planet in a hurry, flying in tight formation.

"You must form Voltron," Allura said. "Quickly!"

"You guys heard the princess," Shiro said into the comm. "Let's do this, on my mark!"

They'd had a little practice, by now – it still wasn't as smooth a transition as Allura knew it could be, as she watched the multitude of displays scattered across the forward viewscreen, but the five paladins were once again able to form Voltron, not far from the atmosphere of the planet below them. Much larger than any of the single lions, of course, the humanoid-shaped mecha flew toward the still-larger Galra battleship, the red paladin's sword in hand.

"There are still undamaged plasma cannons along the belly of the ship," Allura said, as the Galran battleship turned slowly in space, exposing the bottom of the ship to the incoming war machine. "The best course of action would be to take out the engines first."

"I agree," Shiro said. "Hunk?"

"On it!" Hunk reported, bayard in his hand. He jammed his bayard into its appropriate slot, and in a twinkling the red paladin's sword had changed into the yellow paladin's cannon.

The active plasma cannons on the Galra battleship began to engage directly. "Hey guys," Lance said. "I don't know about you but I'm __really__ not cool with getting shot down for the second time today."

"Shield up!" Shiro ordered, and as one Voltron moved, bringing its shield to bear and keeping as much of its mass behind the particle barrier shield.

It was some effort to maneuver Voltron while keeping the shield up and as much of it behind the shield as possible, but the volleys of plasma fire were non-stop. "The Galran ship's energy output is increasing," Pidge reported. She jerked her head up and stared out at the forward viewscreen. "The engines are powering up!"

Voltron shot up above the ship, counteracting its yaw. It twisted, aiming Hunk's cannon at the engines from above the ship, and fired off two shots before having to dodge more plasma bolts. The first shot struck the engines solidly, but the other missed and wildly shot off into space beyond.

The angle of the ship had changed drastically, it was pointed away from the planet now, tearing itself free of the gravity well and headed toward deep space. "It's going to run!" Keith said. "What do we do, Shiro?"

After a split second's decision, Shiro said, "let it run," just before the ship surged forward and away. Voltron hung back in space as the Galran battleship accelerated quickly, building up steam for a warp jump away.

"What are you doing!?" Allura yelled through the comm. "You're letting it get away!"

"We don't have the resources to deal with that many Galrans by hand," Shiro said. "It's sensors were damaged badly, if they're making a warp jump without active sensors they run the risk of going straight through a star."

"So we won?" Lance said.

"Seems like it," Hunk said. "We chased them off!"

"I don't know if you'd call that __winning__ ," Keith said.

"They're gone, we're still here, and the Clawomians are alive," Pidge said. "I'd call that a win."

"I would too," Shiro said. "Let's head back planet side and make sure that the Clawomians are unharmed. Princess?"

"I'll join you," Allura said, face furrowed into a frown. She shut off the display that projected her image to the paladins in their cockpits and folded her arms, staring off into the starfield; where the Galran ship was just a tiny blur barely perceptible against the other pin pricks of light, and Voltron itself indistinguishable. "Take the castle into orbit," she instructed Coran. Slowly, the castle ship headed toward the habitable planet below.

* * *

"This planet does not have a name in the castle's registry," Allura said, standing on the rocky soil outside the Clawomian's downed cargo ship. "No name, nor registration. I do believe you are its first settlers, councilor Dkkr."

The Clawomian councilor bowed slightly, fur a deep vermillion. "Honor ours, Princess." Dkkr waved his only three-fingered hand at the gathered Clawomians, nearly a hundred in number. "Many thanks, paladins. People safe."

Shiro stood beside Allura, a bit behind her. They all still wore their helmets despite the breathable atmosphere simply for communication's sake, because there was no way that the click-whistle dialect of the Clawomians was something that they would be able to easily understand otherwise. He watched the assembled people, shades of reds and browns and pinks, as the other paladins stood among them and spoke to them.

"I want you to have this," Allura said to Dkkr, holding out a small remote. "It's a communicators device linked to the castle. If the Galran ever return here, do not hesitate to call us."

A smaller Clawomian with lighter pink fur stepped forward and accepted the remote with both hands, before bowing almost double and scooting back. The one-armed Clawomian counciler bowed as well. "Multiple honor, Altean princess."

"It is our honor to serve the people of this galaxy," Allura said kindly. "And to protect it from all that we can."

Shiro smiled at that and folded his arms. The Clawomians had built a fire in the scar from their ship's rocky descent, and Lance was sitting on a log beside it, helmet off and surrounded by young, fledgling Clawomians. Shiro started to turn to walk to him but then hesitated as Keith approached Lance, trailed by more of the Clawomians. He watched Keith rest his hand on Lance's shoulder, and Lance look up at Keith with a grin and say something that earned him a hard shove.

Allura straightened from a bow she had given to the Dkkr. She looked back at Shiro and saw his destruction. "You can go to them," she said softly, half-turning to face him, and Shiro looked at her, surprised. "You clearly want to," Allura added, and Shiro turned away from the bonfire.

"It's complicated," Shiro said after a moment, avoiding Allura's direct gaze. "I think I'll walk around a bit, and stretch my legs.

"Isn't it always," she murmured, as Shiro walked off, deliberately, in the opposite direction.

* * *

On board the castle-ship, in the currently quiet training room, the memory core stood alone in the corner, set gently on a small pedestal. Along the bottom of the column the foreign script lit gold, glowing softly in the dim room, before tracing from gold to white and back to gold again.

Two of the Altean mice who were snooping through a dirty bowl that Pidge had left sitting beside her laptop lifted their heads at the same time, eyes growing wide as they watched the colored script light up concurrently, tracing up the column in wisps of yellow followed by white before vanishing.

The third time it pulsed color, the script lit up in violet.

The mice squeaked in alarm, and vacated the training room.


	32. Chapter 32

Sleeping didn't seem to be an option, Lance realized, after lying awake on his back for a solid few hours. He climbed wearily out of bed – Keith didn't stir, curled upon his side and facing the wall, not even touching him – and pulled on his shirt and pants.

Every time he closed his eyes he was spinning out again in near pitch-black, cockpit and forward screens dark, the only light coming from the paladin suit itself. It made him dizzy and sick to his stomach, and even the exhaustion of the last two days rolled into one didn't mean he was able to nod off.

No one else was up and about. He stopped by the kitchens and grabbed something to drink, and then decided that since he was up he might as well scrub out the cockpit of the blue lion; except by the time he got to the flight bay with a bucket of warm sudsy water and a handful of rags a weird, hard feeling had built up in his throat and was making it difficult to breathe, so he sat down on the floor next to the bucket and put his hand in his hair.

It was almost a little like the feeling he'd tucked away and purposely ignored when he had discovered that his hero and now leader was also an alpha. Lance didn't like this feeling at all.

The sound of the doors to the blue lion's flight bay opening made him open his eyes, then raise his head from his hand. "Lance?" Shiro's voice called. "What are you doing up? It's the middle of the night, you should be racked out like everyone else."

Lance leaned back on one arm, half-turned in place as Shiro crossed the flight bay's floor in an easy stride. "What are __you__ doing up?" Lance asked instead, avoiding Shiro's questions completely.

"Can't sleep," Shiro said honestly. "Too keyed up still. What are you doing?"

"I was gonna clean my lion," Lance said, arm loosely on his bent knee. "But now I'm just ..." he shrugged and didn't finish the thought.

"Want some help?" Shiro asked, offering Lance his hand. After a moment, Lance nodded his head and let Shiro help pull him to his feet.

* * *

It wasn't really as bad as Pidge had made it out to be, but it was a bit difficult to clean the cramped cockpit area especially with two people wiggling around inside. Lance worked in silence, occasionally glancing over at Shiro, who was quiet as well.

After a while – Lance couldn't really judge the passage of time without checking his chrono every so often – Shiro sighed and sat back on his heels. "Has Keith talked to you?" he asked, dropping the rag back into the bucket they had dragged with them.

Lance looked up. "What, about you?"

Shiro seemed surprised by his response. "Yeah?"

Lance shrugged loosely. "Not really, I guess? I mean, I kinda knew that he was gonna go after you like that getting __in__ to this thing with him, so it's kind of unspoken." Lance frowned. "We should really discuss it in depth at some point. That boy needs help with his communication skills."

When he glanced over at Shiro, Shiro wasn't looking at him but he was smiling. "That's an understatement," he said, amused. "But, that's not quite what I was referring to."

"Oh." Lance dropped a dirty rag into the bucket and stretched his arms out in front of himself, then climbed into the pilot's chair and stretched his arms. "Then what is he supposed to talk to me about?"

Shiro shook his head. "He said he wanted to talk to you first. It's really nothing important." Lance folded his arms and thought about this, while Shiro cleaned up the rest of the rags, and then said, "an alpha hurt you, and I don't want to do the same."

This was not something Lance expected Shiro to say, at all, and he cocked his head and half-turned in his seat. "What?" he said, clearly not processing this as he looked over at Shiro.

"I meant," Shiro realized he had said too much and Lance could see it on his face. "I mean, I've scared you and everything in these past few weeks, and I didn't mean to." He sighed and ran a hand down his face. "I want to be someone that the entire team can count on, and trust," he said finally. "I feel like I've let you down recently, especially with my behavior toward you while Keith was in heat, and ... I don't want you to think that's the way I'm going to be."

Lance shook his head slowly. "I'm not afraid of you," he said. "I've had some bad things happen and I have a knee-jerk reaction sometimes, but I know I can trust you."

Shiro smiled a little sadly. "I'm glad," he said. He moved to stand up, sitting the way he was in the cramped cockpit was the opposite of comfortable. Lance was still watching him though, brow furrowed. "Are you coming?" Shiro asked, nodding toward the exit, and Lance shook his head.

"Nah," he said. "If I go back to bed I'll wake Keith up, and I wanted to run some practice simulations on Blue's flight software."

Shiro nodded his head, and smiled again – less sad, this time, although Lance wasn't quite sure why. "Make sure you get some sleep," he said, and clapped Lance on the shoulder, before he ducked through the hatch and headed for the exit of the lion.

Lance folded his arms again, tilted his head back in to the pilot's seat and closed his eyes. That was a weird conversation.

* * *

He hadn't meant to fall asleep in the pilot's seat, but he did. Lance opened his eyes and groaned when he felt the finger poke into the side of his face again, and when he cracked open his eyes it was Keith leaning over the pilot's seat. "What d'you want," Lance mumbled, one eye still closed and thinking about dozing right back off again.

"I've been looking for you all morning," Keith said. "Shiro finally said you might still be in here, what the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Lance said, brushing Keith's fingers back and yawning. "Lemme sleep."

"If you want to sleep there's a perfectly good bed in your quarters," Keith said.

" _ _Our__ quarters," Lance mumbled.

"What the hell are you doing in here anyway?" Keith said, draping his arm over the back of the pilot's seat.

Lance sighed loudly and opened both his eyes, clearly recognizing that he was not going to be allowed to doze back off. "Look, I spun out, okay? It freaked me out bad, and I decided I needed to stay in here for a bit when my life __wasn't__ in immediate danger so I don't freak out the next time it happens. Does that bother you?"

He glared up at Keith, and then blinked when Keith's expression softened a bit at the edges. "Oh," he said softly. "I didn't even think about that, I'm sorry."

"Did you just..." Lance blinked. " _ _Apologize__ to me?"

"Well ... yeah?" Keith said, sounding confused.

"Today is really weird," Lance rubbed his hands over his face.

"Did you want any help?"

Now Lance lifted his hands and shot Keith a puzzled look. "I don't see how you could __help__ with this," he started to say, and then Keith put his hand to the side of Lance's face and turned it up just slightly so he could kiss him. Lance blinked a little, then responded to the kiss.

"That's a good thing," Keith breathed when they finally parted. "To think about in here, right?"

"I don't know if it's a good thing to think __about__ ," he said breathlessly. "I can't be getting boners flying into combat, but it is nice."

Keith's grin had gone wicked. "Did my kiss give you a boner?"

Lance put one hand over his pants. "I'm going to have to decline to answer that," he said smartly, and then Keith pulled his face forward and kissed him again, deeper this time. "Well, let's just fix that, shall we?" he said, and slung himself around the pilot's chair.

"Fix it how?" Lance asked, although he had a good indication as to __how__ when Keith arranged himself between Lance's spread knees and leaned forward, tugging at the catch on Lance's pants. "Wait, are you serious, right now?"

"Even you can't be that dumb," Keith said with a snort, and Lance shrugged, wide-eyed as Keith made good on this bluff, pulling his pants down enough to have access, and sighing excitedly when Lance's cock was already mostly hard. "Don't you dare make a mess," he said, as he licked it.

"Where am I supposed to come, then?" Lance asked, already breathing a little hard, flush painting his face red.

"Smart ass," Keith said, as Lance leaned forward and curled his hands into Keith's hair.


	33. Chapter 33

Lance ran his fingers through Keith's hair. It wasn't quite as soft as it looked, hair dark and fine and messy, but it was long enough for him to tangle his fingers in and brush it back, away from Keith's violet eyes. He wet his lips and exhaled; the look that Keith was giving him was making it hard for him to breathe.

"I thought you were gonna swallow," Lance said finally, and Keith gripped his thigh punishingly hard, then swiped his thumb across the bridge of his nose, where a good portion of the slick white fluid had ended up. Then, defiantly, still making eye contact, Keith stuck the same thumb into his mouth and licked it clean.

" _ _Fuck__ ," Lance whispered.

Keith stood up carefully, standing slightly bent over in front of the pilot's chair. He put his hand on the back of the seat and loomed over Lance, breathing hard. Lance stared up at him, eyes wide. Tentatively, he put a hand on Keith's hip, and Keith moved in closer, put one knee outside of Lance's thigh, and the other hand went to his belt.

"Suck me," Keith ordered raggedly, pulling his pants open.

Lance's breath caught in his throat. There was something about the way that Keith said that, the harsh bark of his order as his cock popped out of his underwear that sent a trill of something unrecognizable down Lance's spine. He touched Keith's cock with one hand, thumb rubbing across the hot head and stroking down the shaft slowly.

Keith leaned in closer still, one knee on the seat, one hand on the back of the seat and the other holding the base of his cock, Lance's hand brushing his. Slowly Lance leaned in close, tilted forward until he could smell Keith's musk, before he gathered himself and took the head of Keith's cock into his mouth.

It was a bit of an awkward angle, with the way Lance was sitting, but he made it work somehow. There wasn't any exposed skin to kiss, or tease, or try to make Keith come undone any faster than just his cock, and that was a pity. "I'm gonna take you back to the room," Lance said as he pulled off of Keith with a wet pop. "And fuck you into the mattress."

"We'll see," Keith said raggedly, and Lance could see the sweat that had gathered in his hairline when he looked up. "We'll see who's gonna fuck _ _who.__ "

He teased the slit with his tongue. "You're acting like you'll have anything left when I'm through here," he said with a wicked grin, and his eyes darted up to meet Keith's when Keith's hand landed on the back of his head, palm firmly gripping his skull.

"I wanna fuck your mouth," Keith said heavily. "Hold still for me."

That same strange feeling curled around into Lance's stomach this time. He drew back just a little and stared at Keith's cock, then nodded his head. "Slow," he cautioned, as he opened his mouth to swallow Keith down. "Go slow."

Keith did go slow, and Lance shuddered as the head of Keith's cock hit the back of his throat. He'd never taken anything this deep before and Lance clutched at Keith's thighs, then slid his hands around to grip his ass. He wouldn't panic, he could pull off of Keith's cock at any moment if he felt uncomfortable but he wasn't, not really. He was just overwhelmed, and vulnerable like this.

The tremors that ran up and down Keith's torso at the strain of moving slow were clearly obvious. After a long enough time that Lance's jaw was sore he drew off of Keith's cock and looked up at him, angrily swiping his hand along the bottom of his mouth, slick with fluids. "Are you any closer to coming?" he demanded, and Keith grabbed his head firmly and guided him back onto his cock.

This time the rhythm was faster. Lance could only hang on, his eyes going half closed as Keith rocked into him. Keith had started making little groaning noises and they were music to Lance, a prelude leading to a crescendo as Keith gave off a small, choked sob and forced his cock into Lance's mouth as far is it would go, shooting off almost directly down his throat.

Lance swallowed around him, again and again, until the tension in Keith's body ran out and he sagged back slightly, his cock sliding free from Lance's mouth. "Fuck," Keith said heavily, and Lance was very much inclined to agree.

* * *

"No, I want to hear about my insane cock-sucking skills again," Lance said cheekily, arms folded over the edge of the divider between the two shower stalls. There were suds in his hair, and his face was flushed a little from the heat of the spray. Keith was doing his level best not to look at nor engage Lance because his head was __still__ spinning, even now.

"I didn't say anything like that," he insisted, staring straight ahead at the tile behind the shower spray, hoping the hot water would wash away the memory of Lance lighting up like Christmas as Keith muttered something he probably shouldn't have said about his mouth.

"You said, and I quote: 'fuck Lance, your mouth is fucking amazing, do that to me again.' End quote." Lance used his fingers to mark the quotations in the sentence before folding his arms over the divider again. "You didn't even say __please.__ Pushy, much?"

"I am not gonna ask you to blow me again," Keith insisted, ears pink. __At least not until you've forgotten this.__

Lance waved a hand in the air dismissively and continued to stare at Keith instead of rinsing the shampoo from his hair. He tilted forward a little, head cocked. "Shiro said that you had something you wanted to talk to me about," he said and Keith lurched in place, broadsided by the sudden change in topic. "About him."

"Shiro said that?" Keith maintained eye contact with the tile.

Lance said, suddenly calm, "Keith, look at me." Keith looked over to Lance's unusually serious face. "Did you change your mind, and choose Shiro instead?"

"I already told you I'm choosing both of you," Keith said.

"Yet you're now sleeping in my bed and constantly with me. When, exactly, are you gonna do the ~nasty~ with Shiro?" Lance leaned his elbow on the edge of the divider and put his chin in his hand.

Keith ducked his head under the spray for a moment. When he emerged, he turned to face Lance. "I talked to Shiro about it," he said. "I know you're kinda ... not really keen on the idea of alphas, but, maybe we could try to make it the three of us? Together?"

Lance didn't remove his chin from his hand as he stared at Keith. "The three of us," he repeated.

"Yeah."

"Together."

"Yeah..." Keith trailed off, eyes narrowed as he looked at Lance. Lance's expression hadn't really changed, and he couldn't tell if that was good or bad or not.

"So you're saying I get to watch Shiro fuck you." Lance dragged that out a bit. "That I would get to watch him knot you."

Keith hadn't even considered that. He knew, in abstract, the way that alphas and omegas copulated was different than any other combination, but he hadn't stopped to actually __think__ about it. "Yeah," Keith said, a little strangled. "And he could you, too ... if you wanted."

Lance actually blanched a little at that, and Keith turned fully under the water. "You don't have to do __anything__ that you don't want to," he added firmly. He stepped over to the divider where Lance was leaning. "I mean it," he said.

"You already talked to Shiro about this," Lance said, and it wasn't a question. "What were you planning to do when I said no, I didn't want to do that?"

Keith chewed his bottom lip, because he truthfully hadn't thought about that possibility. "Then we just would have continued doing what we are now, except I would spend more time with Shiro, I guess."

He saw the pull of emotion on Lance's face, and recognized jealousy there. "Yeah, I don't want that," he said. "I don't really know if I want anything to do with Shiro like that," he looked away and was turning a deeper pink than the hot water was doing for him. "But I do kinda wanna watch you guys at it, that sounds really fucking hot."

Keith leaned in real close, putting one hand over Lance's on the divider. "Thanks, Lance," he said softly, and Lance snorted and let Keith kiss him. "Let's talk to Shiro."

* * *

"All right," Pidge said, slamming the door into the locker room. "Which one of you chucklefucks messed with my systems setup?"

Lance had let out a delicate shriek at the door being slammed open and yanked his robe closed. Keith was sitting on the bench between the row of lockers that fed into the showers, clad simply in his underwear. He looked at Lance, having jumped slightly at his rather high-pitched scream, and then to Pidge. "I haven't touched anything," he said truthfully.

"I've been in my lion since yesterday," Lance said. "You can check the logs."

"Well __someone__ messed with the computer software I've got set up to run my diagnostics on the memory core," Pidge said. "It wasn't me or Hunk, and I __know__ Shiro isn't gonna fuck with it, so that leaves you two geniuses."

Lance gave a partial shrug. "Maybe it was the mice."

"Yeah," Pidge scoffed. "The __mice__ did it."

"Pidge, it really wasn't us," Keith said. "I swear it."

Pidge propped her hands on her hips. "Well, I guess the computer software just upped and rewrote itself to unplug from the memory core, because _ _that's what freaking happened.__ " She shot both of them a glare, and then turned around. "Whatever, now I gotta start all over. You two can get back to fucking or whatever." She waved her hand and stormed out of the locker room.

"Just when I think today can't get any stranger," Lance commented, and Keith shook his head. He wasn't about to tempt fate any further.


	34. Chapter 34

They found Shiro in the training room, using the regular old earth-style exercise equipment to lift weights. Pidge and Hunk were off in the corner doing questionable things in the name of science, or something, Lance wasn't really paying much attention to them anyway and they were fucking with the memory core and if Lance never ever had to deal with the memory core ever again it would be too fucking soon.

"I talked to Lance," Keith said, as if Lance wasn't standing right beside him, a step back. Lance rolled his eyes and groaned – for fuck's sake, Keith was still __holding his hand.__ He didn't yank it away to fold his arms even though he really desperately wanted to, because Shiro was sitting on a bench right in front of him wearing a tight black tee shirt that was like a second skin, and Lance felt like he should have that barrier of his crossed arms between them. It took a lot to disregard that creeping feeling, because it wasn't __uncomfortable__ , he wasn't __scared__ of Shiro ... but he felt like he should have a buffer all the same.

"Did you," Shiro said in an amused tone, his eyes flitting to Lance's face before looking back to Keith.

"Yeah," Lance said, and pulled his hand free from Lance's, giving in to the need to cross his arms, to close himself off. The vulnerability frustrated him, and he glanced across the large open space of the room, expecting to see Pidge and Hunk watching them closely. "I'm willing to try this out," he said finally. "I don't know how far I'm comfortable with going and stuff, but..." he looked at Keith, who was watching him, and he shrugged loosely, arms still folded. "I'll give it a shot."

Shiro's expression was not quite what he expected. "I don't want you to feel pressured into anything, Lance."

"I don't feel pressured," Lance snapped back quicker than he intended, voice going a bit louder than. He shook his head once to clear it, then tried again. "I'm not afraid of you," he said firmly. "Keith trusts you, and I..." he trailed off and looked at Keith, who was staring at him with a surprised expression. "I trust Keith's judgment," Lance said finally.

" _ _Wow__ ," Keith said, eyes wide. "Can you say that again? I want to get that on a recording."

"In __this,__ " Lance clarified. "I still think you have shit judgment elsewhere."

"That's not what you said, you can't just modify it how you please," Keith said. "You said you __trust__ me!" He gloated over this, looking quite pleased, and Lance's face turned pink. He turned toward Keith and shoved him, one hand in the center of his chest.

"Dick!" Lance said loudly. "You're a fucking asshole, Keith!"

"Ooooh," Pidge called from across the room. "Is that any way to talk to your __boyfriend__ , Lance?"

"Yeah," Keith said, with the smile tugging on the corners of his mouth as he repeated Pidge. "Is that any way to talk to your __boyfriend,__ Lance?"

"Don't you dare gang up on me," Lance said, then half turned and pointed a finger at Shiro. "Don't __you__ say it, too!"

Shiro shrugged loosely, a mischievous expression forming on his face. "Well," he said. "Maybe I don't want you talking that way to __my__ boyfriend, did you think about that?"

"I've changed my mind, you two can have each other," Lance said, and waved his hand in the air sarcastically. "I'm out." He turned around and marched decisively toward where Pidge and Hunk were working on the memory core. "Hey Pidge, wanna date me?"

Pidge said, without looking up from her computer, "I'm gay."

"Hunk? Buddy?"

Hunk held up his hands. "I, tragically, am not gay."

"Fuck," Lance said, and put his hands on his hips. "I guess I'm stuck, then."

* * *

Hunk held up one of the burned sensors so that Keith could lean forward and see it, even if he didn't quite understand what it meant. "They're all like this," Hunk explained. He was sitting on the floor in front of the memory core, severing the burned sensor patches from the wire and hooking up new sensors, one at a time. "It's like they all got burned off the face of the memory core. But the monitoring system didn't notice any spikes in power or temperature before that occurred, and in fact still read as connected for a while after the burn, as far as we can tell. Right, Pidge?"

"Right," Pidge said without looking up from her laptop.

"That's strange," Keith said.

"Nothing about this thing obeys any laws of physics that __I__ know," Pidge grumbled. "I don't like it."

"So let's jettison it into space," Keith said, standing beside Hunk and looking it over.

Pidge's head shot up. "Are you out of your __mind__?" she said, scandalized.

Hunk shrugged at Keith. Keith leaned forward to peer at the writing on the monolith, and rested his hand on the strange runes. "It's not quite Galran," he said, brow furrowed, and Pidge and Hunk both __stared__ at him, as the letters lit slowly, highlighted in purple this time.

"Keith!" Hunk said urgently. "You're __touching it__!"

Keith stared down at Hunk, then realized his mistake and yanked his hand back and away. The purple glow lingered a moment longer before it faded out. All three of them stared at the memory core, then looked at each other.

"Well," Pidge said. " _ _That's__ new."

* * *

Lance sat down hard on the edge of his bed and buried his face in his hands. He hated this feeling, like acid roiling in his stomach. The way that Shiro had smiled, and looked at Keith, and said __my boyfriend__. The way that Keith had turned pink, a pleased expression on his face, like that's all he had been waiting to hear... Lance pressed his palms to his face, elbows on his knees, and __groaned.__

He heard a knock at the door and was tempted to tell Keith to go fuck off back to Shiro, but then the door hissed open anyway because Keith didn't get how people worked and __maybe__ wanted to be left alone to work out their issues.

"Lance," Shiro's voice said, and he lifted his head in a violent jerk at the unexpected presence. "Can I come in?"

Shiro was standing in the doorway respectfully not intruding unless given the okay. Lance let out a long, shuddering sigh and then nodded his head, and Shiro stepped into the room enough so that the door could close behind him.

He stood in silence for a long while, observing. Then Shiro spoke. "You're not okay with this," he said, and stated it as a fact.

"I __am__ ," Lance snapped at him. "Believe it or not, I am __very__ much okay with the idea of it, so please stop acting like you know what's good or not for me." He folded his arms and glared at the opposite side of the quarters from where Shiro was standing.

There was another stretch of silence, before Shiro spoke again. "I didn't mean to presume," he said. "I'm sorry. Does this have anything to do with the fact that I'm an alpha?"

Lance let his hands drop between his legs, elbows still braced on his knees. He looked down at the floor. "I don't want to talk about that," he said calmly. He looked up a bit when Shiro moved, crossing the room and standing in front of Lance.

"May I sit?" he asked, and when Lance nodded his head, Shiro sat on the edge of the mattress beside him.

"I know I can trust you," Lance said without prompting, not looking at Shiro. "I __do__ trust you. I, just..." he trailed off and stared at his hands, still dangling between his legs, and shrugged his shoulders.

"There are no expectations with this," Shiro said. "None. You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with, Lance." He carefully extended his left arm and put it over Lance's shoulders, and when Lance didn't jerk away or even act startled, gently pulled him close.

Lance sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head against Shiro. "You called Keith __your__ boyfriend," he said softly.

Shiro brushed the fingers of his left hand into Lance's hair slowly. "If we're doing this," he said. "He would be." Shiro let the words hang in the air for a moment, before he tilted his head in close, so he could murmur into Lance's ear directly. "But you would be my boyfriend too, Lance."

He shivered in Shiro's arms, then the hint of a smile appeared on Lance's face. "I think I like that," Lance said, and he cracked his eyes open, to look up at Shiro, who smiled back. "Say it again."

"My boyfriend," Shiro said, and a slightly teasing note had entered his voice. "Lance is my boyfriend."

Lance shivered again under Shiro's arm, but his smile had grown. "Maybe I want my boyfriend to kiss me," he said, with no trace of hesitation.

Shiro did pause, but only for a moment. He touched Lance's face with his right hand, the Galra metal warm but hard as he turned Lance's face up to just the right angle and kissed him slowly. Lance turned in his arms just a bit, bracing his hands on Shiro's chest as they kept kissing, slow and deep.

When they parted, they both had healthy flushes across their faces. Lance tentatively touched the scar that crossed the bridge of Shiro's nose with his fingers, and then took back his hand. "Keith is a better kisser," he said after a moment, and Shiro blinked in surprise, then barked out a genuine laugh.

"I guess that means we just have to practice a lot," Shiro said, and brushed his hand into Lance's hair. "What do you think?"

"I like that plan a lot," Lance said. "Maybe we should work on it more now, while we're in the groove."

Shiro nodded and smiled, then kissed Lance again.


	35. Chapter 35

"Did you take a __shower?__ " Keith said when Lance sat down on the couch in the common room. Lance let out a long exhale, then looked over at Keith and grinned and raised his eyebrows. Keith groaned in disgust and rolled his eyes, then leaned back and kicked Lance in the thigh with his boot. "You're gross," he said.

"I'm wounded," Lance said, and caught Keith's foot before he could kick him again. "You're the one who eats ass and you call __me__ gross."

Keith turned bright red. "I, __you__ -" he sputtered. Lance still had his boot in both hands, so Keith aimed a kick with his free leg. Lance was too busy laughing now, as Keith's blush grew progressively darker. "You are __such__ an asshole," Keith seethed when he could finally put words together. Lance yanked on his foot and Keith yelped, sliding down the bench couch and smacking his head against the cushions. Lance hopped up quick as a whistle and put one hand on Keith's shoulder, keeping him pinned down to the couch.

"I know I'm an asshole," he said cheerfully, ducking his head in close to Keith's and smirking pretty heavily. "And you __love it.__ "

Keith glared up at Lance. "I most certainly do __not__ love it when you're an asshole," he informed Lance, and shoved at his chest with both hand. "Did you fuck Shiro, is that why you took a shower? I saw him leave after you."

This time, it was Lance who turned an appropriate shade of pink. "I didn't," he said, and looked away.

"Yeah, I call bullshit," Keith said. "You're __way__ too happy and perky to have not gotten laid." Keith shoved at Lance again, having made no progress from the first onslaught. "I guess I should count myself lucky I can't smell him on you right now, because I don't know what would have happened otherwise."

Lance sat back on his heels while still straddling Keith, and rested his hands on his thighs. "We didn't fuck," he said insistently. "We just talked. And ... made out a little. But no sex."

"So why the shower then?" Keith challenged.

"I jerked off like, twice," Lance said with absolutely no shame. "Easier cleanup."

Keith gripped the front of Lance's shirt with both hands and pulled him down, so that they could kiss. "Next time come find me," Keith murmured into his mouth, and Lance bit his lip. Keith groaned and wiggled just a little, his hand sliding up over Lance's shoulder to the back of his head.

"Lance," Allura said from the elevated entrance to the common room, that ran along the back of the couches. Lance sat up quickly on his knees, Keith's hands falling from his shoulders. Lance ran a hand through his short, damp hair to settle it back down as he looked over at Allura, exuding false innocence.

"Yes, Princess?" he asked, charm turned on to full.

Allura walked to the edge of the couch, and then looked down at them. Keith had gone a deep shade of red, pinned in place by Lance straddling him. "Good afternoon, Keith," she said, folding her arms and expression unreadable.

"Uh, hi, Princess," Keith said.

"Did I catch you at an inopportune moment?" she asked sweetly.

"Not at all," Lance said.

"Good." She looked down at them. "I would like to remind you __both__ that the lions are connected to my life force." Lance looked blankly at Allura, but Keith got it right away, putting both of his hands over his face and groaning softly. "I can't believe you two. And then, out here on the couch, too!"

"We weren't gonna do anything __here__ ," Lance protested, and Allura pointed to the door.

"Both of you report to Coran in the training room immediately. I'm sure a few rounds with the level seven gladiator bot will get you over this __very__ quickly."

Lance leaned his head back and groaned loudly to the ceiling. "Ah, man. __Really?__ It's almost dinner time!"

"If you'd like me to make it two level seven gladiator bots," Allura said sweetly. Keith slammed the palm of his hand into Lance's solar plexus, and he doubled over and gasped.

"We're on our way," Keith said. "It won't happen again, Princess."

"See that it doesn't," Allura said, and then smiled. "If you see Shiro, send him my way? It's no rush."

"Got it," Keith said, as Lance wheezed and followed Keith, one arm clasped over his stomach.

* * *

Shiro was helping Hunk scrape dishes of goo into the sink when Lance and Keith staggered into the galley. They both were wearing their paladin suits and looked straight-up exhausted. "There you guys are," Hunk said with an exaggerated frown. "You missed dinner!"

"Paladins need food badly," Lance said, and came to rest against the island in the center of the galley. "Please say there's goo left over."

"There's always goo left over," Keith said in the same exhausted tone. "There's always goo. You know what there's not?"

"Cheeseburgers," Lance said.

"Cheeseburgers," Keith agreed.

Shiro laughed into his hand as Hunk rounded on them. "My goo is __much__ better than some of the other options," he said threateningly, and Lance leaned on the island and hung his head.

"I'm so hungry," he whined. "Hunk, cook for us, __please.__ "

"We can cook for ourselves," Keith said. "Hunk, you don't have to-"

"Pleeeeease," Lance whined.

Shiro took the last load of soiled dishes to what amounted to a fancy spaceship dishwasher, which was part of the island that Lance was leaning into. He nudged Lance aside to load the dishes up, while Lance made puppy-dog eyes at Hunk and Keith just stood swaying in place.

"You could always call Coran to cook for you," Shiro suggested mildly, closing the soiled dishes in and straightening. This put him right behind Lance, and when Lance pushed himself upright his shoulders thumped right against Shiro's chest. Lance froze in place, eyes wide, as Shiro put his hands gently on Lance's waist.

"Let's not call Coran," Hunk said, his back to this as he wiped down the counters. "I can make something for them really quick, I like the practice."

Keith was watching Shiro and Lance with a very peculiar expression. Lance wasn't quite paying attention to him though, because Shiro's hands were On His Waist and he was very unsure how to feel about this. "Well, call me if you guys want dessert," Shiro said lightly, clearly making eye contact with Keith, who made a go at matching the red trim on his uniform. Shiro squeezed Lance's waist once, then released him and headed out of the galley.

"We don't usually __have__ dessert," Hunk muttered, his back still to the whole situation. Lance and Keith just stared at each other with matching, incredulous blushes.

* * *

Keith's blush did not fade at all during the meal. Hunk did __something__ with the goo that made it much tastier than coming straight from the spigot, and Lance inhaled his plate full in record time. "Do you need some water or something?" he asked Keith, who was staring down at a half-eaten plate of goo. "Or nunavill? Something?"

"I'm fine," Keith said.

"You're not fine, you're beet red."

Keith inhaled slowly. "How quickly do heats come around?"

Lance put down his utensil and leaned forward, staring at Keith in the seat beside him. "Dude, it's only been like – what, not even three weeks? That is __way__ too fast." He shook his head. "Unless you're irregular, __fuck__ , don't be irregular that will mess with __my__ heats and then I'll have to kick your ass." He sighed dramatically. "Did your heat start again?"

"I don't think so," Keith said. "I just feel a little funny."

"You landed on your head like, three times."

"The helmet took most of those hits." Keith waved his hand in the air and stared at his food, refusing to make eye contact with Lance. "It doesn't feel like it did when my heat started the last time, so I don't think it's that."

"Good." Lance leaned over and swiped a big spoon full of the goo remaining on Keith's plate. "We don't want you sending Shiro into a rut when we just started this whole thing." He reached for another bite, but Keith smacked his hand and he withdrew. "What, __you're__ not eating it."

"After we eat I'm gonna shower," Keith said, still red-faced. He glanced up to catch Lance's eye. "Then I'm gonna go see Shiro."

Lance hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, have fun."

"Lance," Keith said. "Come with me."

Now Lance turned red again, and slumped back in his chair. "That's moving __really fast__ , man. Really, __really__ fast."

"You don't want to?" Keith asked, and Lance flushed a little harder and looked away.

"I __do__ ," he said quietly.

"Then we'll go together, and if you're uncomfortable," Keith shrugged. "We'll leave."

Lance covered the bottom half of his face with a hand and laughed, then leaned forward and to the side, scooping another bite of Keith's goo before he could be stopped. "Sounds good to me," he said, and licked his spoon.


	36. Chapter 36

Lance grew a little pale when he saw the size of Shiro's dick. "That is insane," he said flatly, as Keith knelt between Shiro's legs. "How do you even get that into your __pants?__ "

Shiro shrugged loosely, one hand resting gently on Keith's head, as Keith stroked him. "It doesn't normally go into my pants when hard," he said, matter-of-fact, and Lance went from pale to a bright cherry red, because Shiro was looking at him and talking normally despite the fact that Keith was stroking him slowly and carefully and lapping at the head of Shiro's cock.

Holy __shit__ , that was hot.

Keith had never bothered coming back to their room after the shower, and after lingering for far too long Lance had stomped down the hall to Shiro's room, only to hear the telltale signs of __something__ happening behind the closed door. He had opened the unlocked door with the plans of being all, 'a-ha!', only to witness Keith between Shiro's legs and to have them both glance at the door as if they'd been __expecting__ him.

Which, they obviously had, as it was Keith who asked if Lance would come with him to Shiro's room in the __first__ damn place.

"Are you okay?" Shiro asked, his face flushed red right across the bridge of his nose, under his scar. No, Lance really wasn't okay, because he was watching Keith nose along that behemoth of a cock; and Keith was watching him too with a lewd smirk.

"Fine," he croaked somehow. That wasn't something Shiro should be asking __him,__ he wasn't getting his dick sucked with an audience, after all.

There was no way that Keith would be able to get that whole thing into his mouth, even with swallowing around it, but he was sure making a go of it, lips wrapped around the head and cheeks hollowed out as he went down as far as he could. Lance made a little groaning noise in the back of his throat – Shiro's attention had returned to Keith, the fingers of his left hand tangled in Keith's damp hair. Shiro was groaning too, but there were soft words of encouragement to Keith mixed in there, who was drawing slowly off his slick cock.

Lance had never really __seen__ an alpha's cock erect; it was intimidating. He'd seen a couple in the showers before, but those were flaccid and really he wasn't supposed to be looking then anyway; but here he stared openly, and when Keith looked up at him and caught his eye Lance didn't look away.

"Wanna help?" Keith asked, a thin strand of sticky saliva still connecting his mouth to Shiro's cock. He brushed some of his bangs back behind his ear, where they stayed put for all of three seconds before popping out again.

"Keith," Shiro admonished as Keith continued to stroke him, one hand tight around the root of his cock. He was wearing his gloves, Lance thought dizzily, leaned back into the closed door.

Keith looked up at Shiro and lapped at the broad head again, tongue swirling around and pressing into the slit. "If he wants to he can," he said, and the flush on Shiro's face grew darker. "Right?"

Lance wasn't entirely certain what he wanted. Keith looked over at him again and tilted his head back into Shiro's palm, and as he stroked the shaft of Shiro's cock something __jumped__ in Lance's belly that he wasn't quite certain he understood. It was the same sort of feeling he had when he had Keith's cock in his mouth, when he was lying next to Keith on the bed all tired after a successful, if exhausting workout.

Hesitantly, terrified, Lance stepped forward. Shiro looked over at him and Keith grinned and tilted his head again as Lance stopped just out of reach, but closer now. "Come on," Keith said insistently, and grabbed Lance by the wrist and tugged him forward. Lance came willingly, falling to his knees on the hard tile beside Shiro's right leg.

This close now, he could smell Shiro's musk; the scent thick and heady. Lance started a little when Shiro's right hand rested gently on his head, and he looked up to meet Shiro's eye. His face was flushed so dark it almost obscured the scar, and Lance felt himself blushing in return. "You don't have to do anything," Shiro reminded him, voice ragged as Keith's grip was just a bit too tight.

Maybe he didn't __have__ to do anything, but ... Lance reached out anyway, and touched Shiro's cock. Fingers first, pressing along the side, feeling the slide of the hot velvety skin moving over the muscle beneath, the fluid – a mix of Keith's saliva and the cloudy liquid leaking at a constant rate from the head made the movement smooth. With little hesitation Lance wrapped his hand around Shiro's cock and stroked it, his hand butting against Keith's where it was wrapped around the base.

Shiro made a noise low in his throat that sounded like a growl, and his hand guided Lance in, closer to his cock. Lance swallowed heavily and realized that Keith's head was pushed in close too, and they were staring at each other with Shiro's cock between them. Keith grinned, his eyes gone to half-mast, and he pushed his cheek against Shiro's cock, before switching hands and using his now free-hand to pull Lance in even closer, so that they could kiss.

Logic and reason had flown completely out the window at this point for Lance, and he kissed Keith back heavily, his cheek brushing Shiro's cock too. Keith's mouth was hot and salty, and everything smelled like Shiro. "Want to see something cool?" Keith murmured when they parted, and he lifted his hand where it had been squeezing the base of Shiro's cock.

There, under the flesh, was a thick bulge. __His knot.__ Lance went completely red, the realization settling in his gut that this entire, enormous thing was meant to go __inside__ someone, up to the knot. His eyes wide, he looked from the knot to Keith, and then finally up to Shiro, who was watching them both with a soft half-smile on his face.

Lance wet his lips and stared at Shiro's cock. There was a strange kind of hunger that had grown in his belly, that he had never really felt before. Keith put his hand on Lance's head and guided him in, and Lance felt Shiro shudder when his tongue made contact, licking up the side like he was an ice lolly.

"Oh," Shiro's voice rumbled, his fingers scrabbling in Lance's hair. " _ _Lance.__ "

Shiro saying his name like that only encouraged Lance further. When he licked a second time, Keith joined in, on the other side, and Shiro shuddered again and again.

It was terrifyingly easy to lose himself in this. Lance got his mouth around the head and sucked, before Keith nudged him away to do the same thing. Lance realized suddenly that Keith wanted Shiro to come in his mouth and that was unfair, because what if __he__ wanted that too? The entire thing very quickly turned into a personal competition between the two of them, tongues moving quickly, hands squeezing and stroking, and poor Shiro leaned forward, a hand on each of their heads and his jaw tight, cords standing out on his neck as he tried to hold in the orgasm that was swelling under the surface.

"Lance," Shiro said, voice gone hoarse and heavy. " _ _Keith, I-__ "

Keith pulled off of Shiro's head with a pop and then they both felt his cock surge under theit hands. Lance closed his eyes just in time and Keith gave off a strangled noise of surprise as Shiro came, hard. Thick, sticky white fluid splashed across Keith's face, and Lance would have laughed that it was a common look for Keith but then the second surge hit him, sluicing right over his nose and up into his hair. Shiro, breathing hard, let out a wordless noise of satisfaction.

"Holy shit," Lance breathed, staring at Keith, who had smeared Shiro's come across his cheek with the back of his hand. "There's so __much.__ "

"Look," Keith said. "He knotted."

Lance did look, to see that the knot at the base of Shiro's penis had in fact swelled to almost twice its size. Lance wet his lips and touched it with one hand, feeling the heat that came off it. It was much too big, it looked like it would __hurt__ , but at the same time, Lance felt a pull that said he __needed__ it.

Abruptly, Lance pulled away, pinwheeling backward and landing on his ass on the floor, looking up at them both.

"Are you okay?" Keith asked him, and Lance stared at him wildly, his heart wanting to beat out of his chest. __Alpha hormones__ , he thought, trying to shove away the mental image of climbing on top of Shiro right now and getting knotted.

"Y-yeah," Lance said, and wiped his hand over his face. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Keith half-turned, still on his knees. He put his hands on Lance's face and Lance stilled as Keith deeply kissed him. Shiro made a muted noise of appreciation, and when they broke the kiss Keith proceeded to lick Shiro's come off the bridge of Lance's nose.

Lance shook a little under Keith's mouth, and Keith put his arms over Lance's shoulders. "I think that's enough for tonight," Keith murmured, and looked up at Shiro, who had covered the lower part of his face with one hand as he watched Keith clean Lance like a cat. "Yeah?"

"Oh, uh," Shiro nodded his head dumbly. "You're right, of course." He looked at Lance, flushed red, and said - "will you kiss me?"

Lance got slowly, unsteadily to his feet. When he stepped in close, Shiro's hands settled on his waist, and Lance touched Shiro's face, turning it up so he could kiss him. This was even more intense, and when they broke apart Lance gasped a little and stepped back, Shiro's hands trailing after.

He stepped into Keith, who had stood up as well. "I'll be back," Keith promised Shiro, his arms going around Lance, to keep him steady. "After I make sure he's all right."


	37. Chapter 37

"I really didn't expect you to come back tonight," Shiro said, surprised. He was sitting back on the bunk, pants pulled back up but unbuttoned and a datapad in his hand. Keith hesitated in the door, one hand on the frame, before walking the rest of the way through.

"I told you I was," Keith said, and felt suddenly self-conscious. He resisted the urge to touch his mouth with his fingers, to check to see if he had wiped everything off because the way Shiro was looking at him he felt like he might still have some of Lance's fluids on his face. "Sorry I took so long."

Shiro set the datapad down on the mattress beside him and extended his hand to Keith, who came right away, throwing a leg over Shiro's thighs and straddling his lap. Shiro's smile was soft and genuine, as he cradled Keith's cheek with his left hand. "How is he?"

"Worn out," Keith said truthfully, closing his eyes and turning his face into the warmth of Shiro's palm. Lance was sleeping now, Keith had pulled the blanket of his bunk up over his shoulders and considered staying, but the pull of Shiro was too strong. "I think he'll be okay."

 _ _Lance clutched at his head, gasping as Keith sucked him and fingered him and moaning Shiro's name.__ Keith was quite certain Lance would be okay. Keith sighed as Shiro's hand stroked back into his hair, and opened his eyes. He smiled at the expression on Shiro's face and tilted his head down so that their foreheads touched, and couldn't help but close his eyes when Shiro kissed him slowly.

"And will we be okay?" Shiro asked him softly, and Keith opened his eyes and looked down at Shiro, felt his heart beating too fast in his ribs, desperate like a bird trying to get free from its cage.

"Definitely," he said, and kissed Shiro again.

* * *

Lance woke slowly to an empty bed. He blinked his eyes blearily and lifted his head, having slept with his face buried in the pillow that smelled like Keith; but the distinct lack of a Keith-shaped body burrowed under the covers next to him was throwing him off by just a little bit. He sat up slowly and realized he was still mostly dressed.

The chrono on his datapad read the middle of the ship's night cycle. He schlepped out of bed and pulled his shirt off, then hesitated in front of the pop-out panel where his pajamas were stored. Lance looked back at the bed and rubbed his eye with one hand.

They'd fooled around with Shiro. Lance had expected to feel different after, like it had lifted the pall of unease he had about the whole idea of the relationship. Instead, he felt very much the same, except for the intrusive thought in the back of his head about how __much__ he wanted to climb on Shiro's dick now.

(No matter how much it looked like it would hurt.)

Those thoughts were courtesy of the pheromones that alphas gave out, even when not in a rut. __Mate with me, I can produce strong heirs.__ Lance knew this, he was __aware__ of this ... but that didn't change the delicious shiver that curled up his spine now that he knew exactly the shape and weight of Shiro's dick.

It was fine if that was all this was, Lance could accept that; except that Shiro hadn't taken Keith, or himself, and forced them down and claimed them. None of them were bonded, and he had had every opportunity to do that. But he __hadn't__ , and that was confusing Lance most of all.

He really wanted to talk to Keith about it, but he knew exactly where Keith was, and Lance folded his arms and stared at the wall, the electricity under his skin distracting. __Fuck.__

There was nunavill in the galley, along with water, some thick purplish liquid that smelled faintly sour, and packets of something that might be some kind of alien tea. "We're going to have to figure out a way to get coffee," Lance mumbled, as he poured a glass of water and leaned back against the counter. He considered the alien tea, then remembered the last time he had tried to make something while operating under the assumption it was similar to earth consumables and decided that it wasn't worth the risk. With his luck, the dried ingredients were mummified alien insectoids and dunking them in hot water would cause a swarm aboard the castle-ship.

He drank his water and shuffled back in the direction of the paladin's quarters. Lance wasn't quite sure that he'd be able to get back to sleep in an empty bed, he'd grown too used to having a presence beside him. With that thought in mind he hesitated in front of the first door in the corridor, and after a moment to gather himself, touched the entry pad.

It wasn't locked. The lights weren't off entirely but they were dimmed to a reasonable level to sleep, and there were two blanket-covered lumps nestled in the bed together. Lance swallowed against the hard lump in his throat and turned to go, when the lump shuffled a bit and Shiro's head popped up from a pillow, squinting against the corridor's lights.

"Lance?" he murmured, and Lance hesitated.

He looked back to the bed – Shiro's short hair was tousled from sleep. Keith didn't seem to move at all, although Lance could make out tufts of dark hair from under the blanket. "Sorry," Lance said. "I didn't mean to wake you, I-" he didn't really know __what__ he was doing, so he shrugged a little helplessly. "Sorry," he said again.

Shiro watched him as he turned to leave, and then he said, a little clearer, " _ _Lance.__ " Lance stopped again, and closed his eyes. "Come to bed," Shiro said, and Lance's heart leaped into his throat.

"There's not enough room," he said without making eye contact. "I'm fine, I just had to use the head-"

"We'll make the room," Shiro said, pulling Keith to him.

Lance inhaled a little, and after another moment, walked into Shiro's room.

It was a tight fit – Shiro was up on his side, his back to the wall, and Lance was still on the very edge of the bed, but they made it work, somehow. Keith didn't wake up once for all the shuffling around, and Lance put his arm around Keith's chest and buried his face in the back of Keith's neck. He didn't jump when Shiro rested his right arm across them both, the fingers of his prosthetic hand curled and resting lightly on Lance's shoulder. It didn't bother him at all, in fact, it made Lance feel a little bit more secure and warm, and he closed his eyes and sighed happily.

Lance was soundly asleep before he knew it.


	38. Chapter 38

The practice range was near the base of the ship; a long, narrow room that could be customized to the user's preference. With the power level of the bayard plasma rifle cranked down Lance could conceivably practice his marksmanship without causing any lasting damage to the ship, although Coran had reassured him at least three times that the room was shielded so that even fully-powered plasma bolts wouldn't cause any issues.

He wasn't taking any chances; 'sucked out into space through a hole the size of his fist' was not what he wanted his epitaph to be.

It was simple target practice. He wasn't the worst shot at the garrison by a wide margin, but the Altean weapon handled differently than garrison artillery. Besides, practice, practice, __practice.__ As the seventh holographic target vanished, pinging points and accuracy metrics to his datapad, Hunk let out a low, impressed whistle.

"Seven trunk shots in a __row__ ," he said. "You should have hooked up with Keith sooner if it was gonna improve your accuracy this much."

"Eight," Lance said, as the next target popped up; true to his word the plasma bolt painted a splash of color through the middle of the scoring zone. "And Keith has nothing to do with this."

"Yeah," Hunk said, leaning forward against the barrier and resting his arms on the shelf that ran along it. "Sure it doesn't."

"Hey," Lance said, insulted. "I've been __practicing.__ "

"Yeah, you haven't set foot in the shooting range since, well," Hunk counted on his fingers in the air for a moment. "Since before that creepy abandoned planet where we got the memory core. Probably way before that, if we're being honest."

Lance took a step back, and propped one hand on his waist. "I have __too__ been down here since then!"

"C'mon man, it's not a bad thing you're more focused." Hunk was trying not to smirk, and Lance was just __more__ insulted.

"More... what, do you think getting __laid__ is helping me shoot better?"

"Dude, I do not want to think about that." Hunk pulled a face. "It's bad enough knowing you and Keith are cohabitating, I do not need the details on your sex life."

Lance slapped his hand down on the barrier. "That's it, you and me. Shooting contest. Right now."

"You __are__ aware that my bayard is like, a cannon, right? It's going to obliterate targets."

"Fuck." Lance glanced around, and pointed to the small wall lockers that ran perpendictular to the exit. "I bet there are regular blaster-plasma-whatsis in there, we'll use the same type of weapon to make it fair."

"All right," Hunk said, and Lance put his plasma rifle on the barrier. When he released it it returned to its shape as a bayard, and they both started rifling through the weaponry, looking for matching guns. "I hope you're prepared to get your ass kicked, Lance."

"We'll see about that," Lance said, and smacked the barrier again, this time triggering the computer systems for the shooting range. "Computer, load up training module five, for two players."

* * *

Shiro stood in front of the memory core, his hands on his hips. "I don't know," he said, and while his expression and tone of voice was level, even Keith could sense that he was nervous. "It seems like a bad idea, Pidge."

"It's for science," Pidge argued. "Look." She was standing on the other side of the memory core, a datapad in one hand. It took a moment for her to edge around the three pieces of computer machinery that had sprouted around the core like inorganic mushrooms, with a rat's nest of wires connecting the core to her equipment. Once maneuvered free, she walked right up to the memory core and put her hand on it with no hesitation.

Keith didn't miss the fact that Shiro flinched, in anticipation of something happening that never did. "Nothing," Pidge said, and made a note on her datapad. "Princess Allura?"

The princess was standing on the other side of Pidge's equipment. "All right," she said, and stepped forward as well. When she put her hand on the core, the lettering lit slowly, glowing in soft white until she removed her hand.

"It's clearly reacting to the fact that she's Altean," Keith said, gesturing with one hand.

"Clearly," Pidge said dryly. "Shiro, please?"

Shiro sighed deeply. "Do you know how to get me out if I end up back in?"

"No," Pidge said, at the same time that Allura said "yes."

They looked at each other. "Really?" Pidge said, and Allura nodded her head.

"I do believe I could coax anyone out of the memory core with the right turn of phrase," she said. "I'm not sure __how__ I know that, but I'm sure I can."

Shiro sighed deeply. "Okay, fine." He stepped forward, his right hand out.

"No, do your real hand," Pidge said, and Shiro hesitated. "I mean, your left hand. They're both your real hands, sorry."

Shiro took a moment to gather himself, and Keith shot Pidge a dirty look. Then he reached out with his left hand, flinched a second but then touched the pillar quickly. The lettering lit gold for a split-second, then went out well before Shiro removed his hand. He dropped his hand and exhaled, then looked to Pidge.

She was staring down at the pad intently. "Now the right hand," she said.

The reaction was instant, all the runes lit purple when Shiro laid his Galran hand against the memory core. "Holy shit," Pidge muttered, staring at the read-outs scrolling on her pad. Shiro let his hand drop to his side and exhaled, clearly relieved. Then he took a step back and folded his arms, unconsciously mirroring Keith's pose.

"So what does it mean?" Allura asked, peering over Pidge's shoulder.

"I don't know yet," Pidge said. She looked up at Keith. "Keith, be our control. Touch the pillar."

Keith rolled his eyes and stepped forward to touch the pillar. The lines did not light up ... at least, not right away. They glowed a soft purple, not the intense violet that they had jsust been under Shiro's hand.

"Well that just doesn't make __any__ damn sense," Pidge said, and walked around one of the towers rooted to the ground with a mass of cabling. "White for Altean – but no response when I touched it. Turned yellow for Shiro's flesh hand and was yellow when Lance touched it ... where __is__ Lance and Hunk, I need more data points..."

"I can go find them," Keith said.

"Pretty sure they're down in the shooting range," Shiro said mildly, arms folded.

"It turned __purple__ for Keith," Pidge was still talking to herself. " _ _Purple.__ That throws my Galran theory right out the window." She leaned forward, and then collapsed into a cross-legged seated position so quickly that Keith actually moved to lunge forward until he realized she was okay, just went from standing to sitting in an eyeblink. Pidge looked up at Keith as if she'd never seen him before. "Purple," she said again, as if that was an answer and not a question.

"I'll go get Hunk and Lance," Keith said.

"No need," Shiro touched Keith's arm, and he jumped a little despite himself. Lance and Hunk had just walked into the training room, and judging by Lance's general audio level and bounciness, he was quite pleased with himself. "Hey!" Shiro barked, his yell amplifying the authority in his voice. "Lance! Hunk! Report!"

Hunk went to parade rest instantly, having been conditioned by years at the garrison. Lance, however, did not, and instead stared at Shiro and Keith like he hadn't seen them before. Then, gratifyingly, he blushed and looked away. "Lance beat me in a shooting game," Hunk reported matter-of fact.

Keith's eyebrows shot up. "What, really?"

"You don't have to act so surprised," Lance said, and put his hands on his waist and leaned forward. " _ _I__ knew I would beat Hunk but Hunk didn't believe me either, there's a reason my bayard is a rifle-"

"I'd beat him," Keith told Hunk conversationally, as if Lance wasn't there.

"You would __not__!" Lance screeched.

"Lance!" Pidge snapped. "Touch the pillar!"

" _ _Fuck__ no," Lance said. "Don't you remember what happened the last time I did that? Nightmare fuel, that's what. __You__ touch the pillar."

"I touched it and nothing happened," Shiro said, attempting to placate.

"It lit up yellow and purple, that's not nothing," Allura said helpfully, and Shiro shot her a look.

"I'll touch it," Hunk said. "Look, see, nothing happens." He smacked his palm against the pillar and, just as he said, nothing happened.

"C'mon Lance," Pidge wheedled. "It's for science!"

"Oh if it's for __science__ ," Lance said, but then Keith grabbed his arm by the wrist and yanked him forward, and Lance yelped and stuck both his hands out to balance himself and they thwapped against the memory core.

Where Lance touched, the lines lit up yellow. He made another, higher-pitched noise and __flailed__ backwards, then landed on his ass on the floor. "Keith! You dick!"

Keith shrugged, and looked at Pidge, who was making the worst face at her datapad. "None of this makes any __sense__ ," she groaned. "I'm missing something here and I don't know what it is."

"Well," Shiro said. "Do you want us to get Coran, and see what happens when he touches it?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm just gonna keep at this for the next, like, month." Pidge looked up at Allura. "Are we still headed for that moon? That'll give me some time to interpret this data."

"Yes," she said. "We should be arriving aftermorrow, if all goes well."

Lance sat all the way forward and kicked at Keith's boot sullenly. "I would __too__ beat you in a shooting contest," he huffed, and Keith ignored him.


	39. Chapter 39

Allura stood at the command console on the bridge, her arms folded and a frown on her face. Outside the forward viewscreen, still far enough out that the entire planet could be seen at once was the gas giant of Eaphus. It was a maelstrom of slowly changing oranges and golds. Allura wasn't looking out the forward viewscreen, however, instead down at the holographic display that hovered above the command console.

"That's odd," Coran said from his own console. "But not unexpected, given the length of time since we last visited the moon of Eaphus." He gestured and looked back at Allura, who hadn't taken her eyes off the display. "We could try hailing again, or even use the universal open communications system."

"Can't the Galra patch in on the UOCS?" Pidge asked, watching the foreign languages scroll across the navigator's console. "I mean, it is unencrypted."

"There aren't any Galra on the moon of Eaphus," Allura said.

"How can you be so sure, Princess?" Keith stood next to Shiro, his eyes not on the planet outside but on Shiro, who wore an unfamiliar expression. "Seems to me that they're pretty much everywhere."

"No, she's right," Shiro said suddenly. "There wouldn't be any, at least not on the ground. But they're at the way-point station in orbit above the moon. It's not safe to use any open communications here."

Allura glanced back at Shiro, who was very careful not to make eye contact with anyone. "There's something in the chemical composition of the air that is irritating to the Galra," Coran explained cheerfully. "It's not toxic nor even obvious to most oxygen-breathing species, but the interaction is noticable enough that Galra tend to give the planet a wide berth."

"You've been here before," Allura said to Shiro, who continued to stare out the forward viewscreen.

"Not to the moon," Shiro said softly. He started gently when Keith laid his hand on Shiro's arm, then looked over to him and forced a smile to the surface. "Only to the waystation." He didn't elaborate further, and Allura nodded her head.

"So, what are we __doing__ here?" Pidge said finally. "I mean, we can infiltrate the waystation and grab onto lines of communication, snoop around a bit..."

"We aren't actually here to snoop around," Allura said. "I didn't think that the Galra would establish a base here, given they avoid the moon if at all possible." She let out a breath and looked back to her console.

"Well, it does make sense," Coran said. "It's a major thoroughfare, with the sheer amount of traffic from all the species who make the journey to the temples."

Allura nodded. "The temples are actually our intended destination as well. We'll just have to be careful. The lions will stay on the ship, we'll take one of the smaller pods to the surface of the moon." She gestured with one hand at the console. "Coran, we'll land the ship on one of the smaller moons without an atmosphere. That should keep us off the radar for a while."

"I don't like the idea of everyone leaving the ship," Shiro said. "Especially with all the lions here."

"Yeah," Keith said. "All it takes is one overly-adventurous drone scout and Voltron is in Zarkon's hands."

Allura nodded her head. "That's why Coran will stay with the ship. The first sign of trouble he'll let us know, and we'll return right away."

Coran sighed. "And I was so looking forward to a nice rejuvenating stay at the Balneum."

* * *

"So we're not wearing our paladin armor to the surface?" Lance was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the long couch in the common room. Hunk was seated across from him, frowning at the cards in his hand, which flickered a little.

"Nope." Keith dropped onto the couch behind Lance, and crossed his legs, narrowly missing thwacking Lance in the side of the head. Lance ignored this and folded his cards down so that Keith couldn't see them over his shoulder. "Allura said we're going to wear 'native garb'."

"That should be interesting." Lance rocked forward, staring at Hunk. "Are you going to fold?" he asked, as Hunk scrutinized his hand.

"I don't even know what these suits __are__ ," he said finally. "I can't remember, is the blue one supposed to be spades or clubs?" He tapped the top of his cards with one hand. "This one keeps __flickering__ , I think it's changed denominations twice."

"That's what makes it risky!" Lance said, and Keith rolled his eyes.

Hunk let out a long sigh and threw his cards down. "Maybe we should just ask Coran to teach us the game that these cards are meant to be played with," he said. "Because poker is __not__ working out."

"I wanted to play ratscrew," Lance said, and then yelped when Keith kicked him between the shoulder blades. "Ow! What was __that__ for?"

"Nothing," Keith said dryly. "It was an accident."

"My __ass__ it was an accident."

"Hey!" Shiro said, coming through the door. "We're going to be landing soon, why is no one getting ready?"

Lance leaned back on his hand and turned his head to look at Shiro as he spoke. "I think it's kinda stupid that we're not wearing our paladin arm..." The way that he trailed off made Keith look at him funny, then glance back to the door as well.

Shiro was wearing a thin, gauzy fabric of dark gray that was pinned on both sides at the shoulder and belted at the waist. It fell to just above his knee, and was hemmed in a black triangle pattern. Shiro was actually turning faintly pink at the attention.

"What are you __wearing?__ " Lance gasped.

"Wow, Shiro," Hunk said. "Looking good!"

" _ _That's__ the native garb?" Keith said.

"Wait, do we __all__ have to wear that?" Lance jabbed his finger at Shiro. "I mean, I can pull it off but I don't know about Keith OW-"

Somehow Keith's hand made contact with the back of Lance's head without him tearing his gaze from Shiro. "Yes," Shiro coughed into his hand and found his normal voice again. "Everyone has to wear native garb. There should be something in the wardrobes in your rooms. Nothing that identifies us as Voltron paladins can be brought with us; there's a large enough bounty on our heads as it is."

Lance stood up quickly, cards dropped on the floor in the pile. "I'm going to change," he said, and hurried quickly out of the room. Hunk gathered up the cards and shuffled them back together, conspicuously slow. He put them away, and gave Keith and Shiro one last look, then shuffled out the door, heading for his own quarters.

Shiro looked after him. "Do I look that ridiculous?" he asked Keith, who still had not moved from his seat.

"No," Keith said. "You look that __hot__. I'm willing to bet that Lance ran off so he could jerk it at least once before getting dressed, because parading around in skimpy clothes like that his boner would be one hundred percent obvious."

Shiro turned an even darker shade of pink. "I notice that you're not running off after him to do the same."

Keith shrugged a little and finally blushed himself. "I could," he said, and shifted his position so he wasn't twisted as uncomfortably. "Or I could jerk it here where I can look at you the entire time."

" _ _Keith__ ," Shiro said, and walked to where the back of the couch met the upper level of the room. "You're not serious."

He shifted again, so that he was kneeling on the couch, and put his elbows on the floor and his chin in his hand, looking up at Shiro. Keith licked his lips slowly and let his eyes travel up and down Shiro. "The sandals really tie the whole thing together," he said idly palming himself through his pants. "You look like a gladiator."

Shiro's eyes glittered oddly for a moment, and Keith shot up onto his knees as he realized what he said. "Shit, Shiro, that's not at all what I meant-"

"I know," he said, and crouched in front of Keith. Keith bit his lip as Shiro reached out and gently touched Keith's face with his right hand. For a moment, all was silent as they looked at each other.

The door behind Shiro slid open and Shiro almost fell over backwards, the way he was balanced. "Hey, guys!" Pidge said, flouncing through the door in a long, layered tunic of a similar material to Shiro's chiton. "Look at-" she stopped dead in her tracks as Shiro shot upright. "Okay," Pidge said. "Can we __not__ do the sex thing in the common areas? Some of us have to live here too, you know."

"We weren't having sex!" Keith squeaked, beet red.

"There was at least eyefucking going on," she said, and pointed at Keith. "I am __underage__ , and being exposed to __all__ sorts of degenerative filth around here."

Shiro looked abashed. "Our apologies, Pidge-"

"Don't apologize to her," Keith said. "She was running the black market on girly mags in the garrison, even __I'd__ heard about 'Gunderson's Goodies' before I got kicked out."

Pidge shrugged. "Had to make my money somewhere to pay for the modifications to my equipment." She hiked her thumb over her shoulder at the door. "Allura's almost ready. Keith, you gonna join us or just grit your teeth in frustration?"

Keith sighed heavily and stood up on the couch, then stepped up to the upper level of the room. "Hopefully he's done by now," he said and only hesitated a moment when Shiro caught his eye. They shared a small smile and Pidge groaned again.

" _ _Eyefucking__ ," she emphasized.

"For someone who's underage you say 'fuck' a lot," Keith muttered as he walked out the door. Pidge shrugged and followed, leaving Shiro alone in the common room.

* * *

"You aren't __seriously__ wearing your gloves with that," Lance said, appalled. Keith hadn't taken them off, and was in the process of lacing up one of those really complex sandals that he had appreciated on Shiro's well-formed calves but were apparently a nightmare to put on himself.

"I am, and you can fuck right off," Keith said.

"You're a fashion disaster," Lance moaned. "How can you be so hot and be so __clueless?__ "

Keith turned pink at that but resolved not to look up, finishing lacing his sandal and picking up his sheathed knife. "Wish I could say the same for you, but you're just clueless," he said, and tried to figure out a good place to tuck his weapon. His tunic was cream with a red belt and red accents along the hem, and unlike Shiro's actually featured sleeves.

"Oh, you __wound__ me." Lance clutched at his chest dramatically. His pale blue chiton was worn only fastened at his left shoulder, and was cut _ _especially__ short. Keith did not stare at his legs. "You're wound me more if I didn't know how sexy I was in this." He struck a pose and now Keith was _ _actually__ ignoring him.

There was a knock at the door, and Lance struck another pose, with his ass out. "It's __open__ ," he called in a falsetto voice, and Keith rolled his eyes and groaned.

Hunk stood there, wearing a similar tunic to Keith's. He took in Lance's ass-out pose, then looked at Keith. "We're waiting on you two," he said to Keith.

"Aw, Hunk, my man. You're not going to compliment my ass?"

"No," Hunk said. "I've seen way too much of it recently." He inclined his head toward the hall. "Can we get going? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can put on real clothes again."

"For real," Keith said, and walked to the door.

"These __are__ real clothes," Lance muttered, and followed sullenly.


	40. Chapter 40

The alien was over two meters in height and was a bright orange hue, with cracks run along its craggy skin that glowed slightly depending on how it moved. It walked on knuckles and squat, short legs, and turned its head toward the assembled paladins without moving its body to match. "Welcome," it creaked out in a passable common tongue, the syllables crushed and mangled in its mouth. "Eaphus stands with Altea."

"You honor us greatly, Master Craftsman," Allura said, bowing deeply. She stood at their head, resplendent it faint ivory and pink, her long hair loose and billowing. The alien – didn't bow, not quite, but bobbed its thick torso forward in jerking motion, matching as well as it could. "These are the paladins of Voltron. They have come to undertake the pilgrimage of the temples."

The alien looked over them again, and moved its body in another bobbing motion. Hunk had positioned himself behind Lance, as Shiro stood just to Allura's right and that was Too Close For Hunk. "That thing looks like it could eat Pidge in one bite," he said, not as softly as he hoped.

"Dude," Lance hissed. "Shut the fuck up."

Shiro glanced back at them with a frown, and both Lance and Hunk did shut the fuck up. Keith sighed and resisted the urge to tug at the hem of his tunic, which felt far too short and he really hated having his legs bare. He felt naked, even if the other paladins were in the same boat.

They were standing in what served as a central transit hub for the moon of Eaphus. There were so many aliens moving around it felt like Grand Central Station. No two seemed to look alike, and very few even gave the group of them a second glance. The air inside the transit hub was humid and thick and it made him antsy. He'd been feeling a little overheated all day, and it made him irritable, and all of this was only making things worse.

The alien made a series of deep moaning noises that terminated in fast, low clicking noises. After a moment it moved again, swinging its body around and gesturing in that same slow manner with its head. "Pilgrimage difficult. Relax in my baths first. Replenishes, and strengthens, for tasks ahead."

"You are most kind," Allura said.

They followed the large alien from the transit hub. If Keith had thought the recycled atmosphere inside the hub was bad, stepping outside was like walking into soup. The air was heavy and wet and difficult to breathe. It was thick with a faint tinge of rotten eggs, and he wrinkled his nose at the same time that Lance clapped a hand over his nose and went, __"Hunk.__ "

"Dude," Hunk complained. "That was __not__ me."

"The air smells like sulfer, it wasn't either of you," Pidge said in her annoyed voice. The large alien made a loud, croaking noise that caused them all to freeze until they realized it was some form of laughter.

"Air smell diminishes," it explained. "Used to it."

The transit hub was nestled in a valley between two dark, craggy mountains. Eaphus itself filled most of the sky, a looming, ominous mass of orange and red. The atmosphere was hazy yellow, and the sunlight reflecting off the planet above gave it an almost sickly tinge.

All that being said, the town that sprawled out from the spaceport was full of an uneven collection of buildings constructed in a mishmash of alien styles. Stalls populated the areas between buildings, and banners and flags covered in all manner of alien script criss-crossed overhead. The alien had to duck under some of the lowest-hanging flags and did so without complaint.

They were all sweating by the time they reached a building that seemed to best accomodate their alien guide's frame. "Ah," Allura said, clearly recognizing the place. "It doesn't seem like much has changed at all! It's been so long, though, is the floor still available?"

Lance and Hunk both leaned around Keith, looking around at their surroundings closely. "Is this ... a __bath__ house?" Lance said, one hand on Keith's shoulder for balance.

"It is," Allura answered for them. She looked back at them all, as the alien swung his head around. "We'll have three days of rest before the pilgrimage. I suggest you take advantage of it."

"Am I allowed to say that I have a bad feeling about all this pilgrimage talk? Because I do. Have a bad feeling about it." Lance said. Keith rolled his eyes and sighed very loudly.

"You have a bad feeling about putting your __pants__ on in the morning," he pointed out.

"Just for that, I'm bunking with Hunk," Lance said. "Right, Hunk?"

"Don't drag me into this," Hunk said.

"That's fine," Keith said. "I'll just sleep with Shiro then, it all works out. __Bunk__ ," Keith backpedaled quickly. " _ _Bunk__ with Shiro."

Pidge sighed loudly. "I hope the walls here are thick."

* * *

There were three rooms, arranged side by side that shared a long porch area. Shiro sat on the edge of the raised porch, legs off the side, arms folded thoughtfully. "This doesn't feel right, not in yukata," he mused, staring out at the water.

It gathered in large, natural-formed craters. He could see the steam coming off the water even from here; the baths extended the enter length of their side. There was a large fence made of a natural wood, yellow and in some portions green, that separated these pools of water from the next set, shared by the next three rooms along the side of the building.

"These baths are co-ed?" Lance said in a high-pitched, shocked voice.

"It's not cost efficient to separate the baths based on gender," Allura stepped out the door of the far left room that she was sharing with Pidge. "There are so many to consider, after all."

"This all seems very nice, Princess," Shiro said. "But we don't really have the time to spare on a hot springs visit, do we?"

"It is like I told the Master Craftsman Eregre," Allura said. "You'll need the rest in order to undertake the trials and the pilgrimage."

"You keep talking about that," Keith said. "What __is__ it?"

"Some kind of training, obviously," Lance said. "I bet it involves grueling climbs up the sides of mountains to hard-to-reach temples in isolated jungles full of traps like venomous snakes and pits full of stakes and giant, rolling balls made of stone-"

"Lance," Shiro said in exasperation.

Allura frowned. "Who told you about the temple of Empodocles?"

"Wait, what?" Lance said.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Hunk asked Shiro conversationally, and Shiro sighed.

"No one's dying, Hunk."

"Yet," Lance muttered sourly.

"It'll be fine, no one hardly ever dies on the pilgrimage," Allura said confidentially. "It's meant to bolster teamwork, and expose the true strengths of each paladin!" Everyone stared silently at Allura, who held her confident pose for a long moment. "And afterward we'll come back here to rest a little longer before we return to the ship, and take the fight to Zarkon!"

Pidge raised her hand. "So, do we just get in the water naked, or...?"

"Yes, of course," Allura responded, puzzled. "Do you bathe in your clothing on earth?"

"Well, __this__ is gonna be an interesting few days," Shiro said, and rested his hands on the edge of the porch as he listened in on Allura's education on human bathing rituals.

* * *

The room itself was faintly Japanese in its design, just enough that Shiro felt slightly comfortable, but alien enough that it constantly reminded him that he was nowhere near being home. It was simple in its layout, a main area where the assorted bedding could be piled on the floor in any configuration, a refresher station that could be customized to your features, and a small rinse-off shower.

Keith had pulled one of the large, fluffy blankets from the pile and had nestled on his side sleepily. Shiro hesitated by his side for a moment, then rubbed his nose and stepped past, heading for the baths. He could, very faintly, __smell__ Keith again; but it was too fast for it to be his heat again. He thought. He wasn't really __sure__ , he hadn't noticed much about omegas' cycles when he was at the garrison, and __after__ that, well...

He seemed to remember that omegas usually had pretty consistent cycles, but Keith had just started his heats, so who knew, really? He should ask Lance, Lance seemed to have things well in hand where that was concerned.

Shiro left his gray chiton hanging in the room and took a towel out to the water. According to Allura, they had private usage of this bath; but the last thing he wanted to do was accidentally expose himself to Pidge or something; even if Pidge was out exploring the area with Hunk at the moment he wasn't taking any chances.

He sat at the edge of the water and put his legs in first. Keith going into a heat here wouldn't be so bad. The rooms seemed almost soundproofed, unless you left the door to the shared porch open. And they were safe here, their identity only known to the owner of the inn.

Shiro looked up at the open sky above. Eaphus took up most of it, and while the planet was now between them and the sun, it still glowed with reflected sunlight, making the darkest portion of night still as bright as dawn. Too bright to see the stars beyond.

He exhaled and sank into the water, then leaned back against the ridge and closed his eyes. He __would__ try to relax. After all, who knew when their next chance to do so would be...?


End file.
